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Philando Castile Shooting Becomes More Clear, Still A Lot Of Unanswered Questions [VIDEO]

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Eric Lieberman Managing Editor
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New details have emerged about the Philando Castile shooting incident in Falcon Heights, Minn.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the agency in charge of the independent investigation, has sent out a news release providing some of the preliminary specifics.

“At approximately 9:05 p.m. Wednesday,” officers Jeronimo Yanez and Joseph Kauser “conducted a traffic stop near the intersection of Larpenteur Avenue West and Fry Street in Falcon Heights … Officer Yanez approached the vehicle from the driver’s side,” where Philando was sitting “and Officer Kauser from the passenger side,” where girlfriend Diamond “Lavish” Reynolds was sitting. Reynolds’ juvenile daughter was sitting in the back seat.

“At one point during the interaction, Officer Yanez discharged his weapon striking Castile multiple times. No one else was injured. A gun was recovered at the scene.”

The report then describes how Yanez uses his radio to request an ambulance. Personnel from the Roseville Police Department and St. Paul Fire Department arrived for additional help and “provided medical attention until the ambulance arrived.”

An observer who lives in an apartment across the street tweeted a video showing personnel attempting to resuscitate Castile.

Castile was then transferred to Hennepin County Medical Center “where he was later pronounced dead.”

“Law enforcement personnel transported Reynolds and her daughter to the Roseville Police Department, where Reynolds provided a statement to investigators about the incident,” according to the release. They were later brought home by a Roseville police officer.

In her first interview with media following the shooting, Reynolds lambasted the way the police treated her and her daughter following the shooting. “He (Yanez) should not be home with his family. He should be somewhere in jail, handcuffed. They took me to jail. They didn’t feed us. They didn’t give us water. They took everything from me. They put me in a room and separated me from my child. They treated me like a prisoner,” Reynolds stressed in a speech transcribed by Madame Noire. She went on:

“The people who are supposed to serve and protect and protect us are not serving us and they are not protecting us. They are taking innocent people away from their families. They are taking innocent people off the streets. And it’s not ok. It’s not ok. They tamper with evidence. They took me off the scene. I was not allowed to talk to anybody up until 5 o’clock this morning when they dropped me off at my doorstep.”

As per the tampering with evidence, Reynolds told reporters they seized her phone and took over her Facebook account. The Register reports it has multiple sources alleging it was the police who deleted the video from Reynolds’ account. A Facebook spokesperson blamed the temporary disappearance of the video on a “technical glitch.”

In the video, Reynolds is seen acting relatively calm, especially given the horrific situation that had just ensued. She attributed it to her daughter, who can be heard saying “I’m right here with you” in the video.

“My daughter was my lifeline. My daughter told me to stay strong and that’s what I had to do. My daughter prayed for me.”

Reynolds continued, “You took him [Castile] away and now you have to pay. I will not be able to sleep until I get justice.”

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