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Minneapolis area police fatally shoot black man during traffic stop

A Minneapolis-St. Paul area police officer shot a black man to death on Wednesday during a traffic stop, local law enforcement said, and a woman posted a video on the internet, saying the man had been reaching for his license.

The incident came hours after the U.S. Justice Department said it had opened an investigation into Tuesday's fatal shooting of a black man in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, by two police officers.

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The use of force by police against blacks in cities from Ferguson, Missouri, to Baltimore and New York has come under heavy scrutiny.



 

A statement from the St. Anthony Police Department said an unidentified black man was wounded during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, at 9 p.m. local time. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died.

A woman live-streamed a 10-minute video posted on YouTube and Facebook that she said showed the aftermath of the shooting. Reuters has been unable to confirm the validity of the video.

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The video began with the unidentified woman in the passenger seat describing what had happened moments before while a black man covered in blood sat in the driver's seat as a police officer pointed a gun into the vehicle.

The woman said her boyfriend had just been pulled over for a broken tail light and explained that he had a gun he was licensed to carry.

"He was trying to get out his ID and his wallet out of his pocket," she said. "He let the officer know that he had a firearm and that he was reaching for his wallet, and the officer just shot him in his arm."

Police said a handgun was recovered at the scene and that the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was investigating the incident.

"Fuck," a distraught man is heard screaming in the video. "I told him not to reach for it."

Officers told the woman to keep her hands up as a small child is heard briefly crying in the background.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported relatives and friends identified the man as Philando Castile, 32. He was a cafeteria supervisor at a school in the St. Paul district, according to the newspaper.

"He doesn't deserve this," the woman was heard saying as she cried in the video. "He was a good man."

Local media showed protesters on Thursday morning gathered outside of the mansion of Governor Mark Dayton in St. Paul, about 10 miles (15 km) southeast of the scene of the incident.

People Killed by Police in the US in 2016 | Graphiq
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