Minnesota Woman Live-Streamed Moments After Police Killed Her Boyfriend

The aftermath of the officer-involved shooting was live-streamed on facebook, then deleted by administrators.

Officer pointing the gun at Philando Castile after he was shot multiple times in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Video by Lavish “Diamond” Reynolds

(SALEM, Ore.) - Philando Castile was shot to death by police Wednesday night, and his girlfriend live-streamed the aftermath of the killing.

Lavish “Diamond” Reynolds was driving in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, with her boyfriend, Philando Castile, and her little girl, when they were pulled over for a broken tail light at the corner of Larpenteur Avenue and Fry Street in Falcon Heights, Minnesota.

Her boyfriend was in the passenger seat. According to Reynolds, Castile told the officer that he was carrying a gun, which he had a permit to carry. He told the officer that he was going to reach into his back pocket for his wallet and identification.

She said the officer told Castile “not to move” then, so he stopped and, “as he was putting his hands back up, the officer shot him in the arm four or five times,” Reynolds said.

Shocked, Reynolds quickly turned on her phone, and livestreamed the horrific event as it happened- from her perspective in the driver’s seat.

She explains to the live audience that she was pulled over for a broken tail-light, at which point she says that “police shot him [Castile] for no apparent reason, no reason at all.”

Viewers can hear for themselves as the officer yells “F***!” and then, “I told him not to reach for it! I told him to keep his hand out!”

The shaken driver responds that the officer "told him to get his ID".

The video shows the officer’s hand, still pointing the gun at the bleeding, clearly incapacitated man in the passenger seat.

The victim lies in the seat, losing consciousness, while a frightened child sits alone in the backseat, and the stunned driver is still running the phone camera, while trying to abide by the officer’s commands.

Graphic video of Mr. Castile bleeding and becoming non-responsive shows that he is not being tended to in any way. Moments later, he looks to have died.

Reynolds pleads on camera, “Please don’t tell me he’s dead. Please don’t tell me my boyfriend just went like that.”

The phone camera continues recording even as police cast it aside when Reynolds leaves her vehicle and is handcuffed, while the “investigation” goes on.

Her little girl, a 4-year old is a witness to all of this. There are glimpses of the confused, innocent child on the 10-minute video.

What happens next is yet to be revealed.

Trigger-happy public servants are showing their true colors on a regular basis, and certainly becoming an unpopular lot, knowing as they must that their fellow citizens are unlikely to tolerate this type of behavior much longer.

To Protect and Serve? A resurgence of this promise is greatly needed.

STAY HUMAN