Protests in Louisiana after white police officers hold down and shoot dead black man

Michael Howie12 July 2016

Protests have erupted in Louisiana after a black man was held down and shot “four to six times” by two white officers.

Father-of-five Alton Sterling, 37, died of gunshot wounds to the chest and back in state capital Baton Rouge, a post-mortem examination found.

A video has emerged appearing to show yesterday’s incident, which was sparked after reports of a man threatening people with a gun. It comes amid heightened tension across the US over the deaths of African-American men at the hands of police.

The short mobile phone film, taken by a bystander, showed the officers having an altercation with a man in a car park. At the start of the clip one is heard shouting: “Get on the ground! Get on the ground!”

Two officers push a man against a silver sedan before pulling him to the ground on his back. “He’s got a gun! Gun,” an officer is heard saying.

Protesters gather near the scene of the shooting in Louisiana
AP

“You f*****g move, I swear to God,” says an officer, before the second points a weapon down at the man’s chest.

Shots are then heard. Police spokesman Corporal L’Jean McKneely said the force had been called out at about 12.35am to reports that a man selling CDs outside a convenience store had threatened someone with a firearm.

Abdul Muflahi, who owns a shop nearby, said one officer used a Taser on the man but a struggle ensued with the second officer, and the first officer then fired “four to six times”.

Mr Muflahi said the man did not appear to have a gun in his hand during the altercation, although he saw officers remove one from the man’s pocket following the shooting.

Cpl McKneely said the officers involved had been placed on administrative leave. Relatives and friends of Mr Sterling were among a crowd of about 200 people who protested at the scene, some carrying signs and chanting “Black lives matter” and “Hands up, don’t shoot.”

Sharida Sterling, a cousin, said: “He would have never fought the police, he wouldn’t have pulled a gun, he would have been too scared.”

Louisiana congressman Cedric Richmond said the shooting was “a tragedy”, adding that the victim’s family and residents of Baton Rouge “deserve answers, and that is what we will seek”.

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