Two more black men have been fatally shot by the police in two different US states.
Alton Sterling was shot in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Tuesday 5 July. Alton was selling CDs and DVDs outside a convenience store when police responded to a 911 call reporting a ″black man with a gun″.
Alton was tasered, pinned to the ground, and then shot at least five times. Video footage of the shooting quickly circulated on social media, which clearly shows Alton being pinned to the ground by two officers before one officer draws his gun and shoots. A second video, shows officers removing a gun from Alton′s pocket after he had been shot several times.
Protests have been held in Baton Rouge in response to the shooting, and the two police officers have been put on administrative leave while an investigation is conducted.
On Wednesday 6 July Philando Castile was shot and killed after being pulled over for a broken tail light in a suburb of Minneapolis. A video shot by his girlfriend, who was in the passenger seat of the car while her young daughter was in the back, shows the aftermath of the shooting. A police officer keeps pointing his gun into the car through the driver’s window and shouts at her to keep her hands where they are. In the video she explains that Philando had informed the officer that he was carrying a gun, and was licensed to carry a gun. He told the officer where the gun was and told the officer he was going to reach for his license and registration as requested.
According to the Guardian′s police killings database, 532 people have been killed by police in the US so far this year.
