Justice Department Opens Probe Into Alton Sterling’s Shooting as Fresh Protests Erupt

Source: time.com - Wednesday, July 06, 2016
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — In a swift move by authorities to keep tensions from boiling over, the U.S. Justice Department launched a civil rights investigation Wednesday into the video-recorded killing of a black man who was shot as he scuffled with two white police officers on the pavement outside a convenience store. A law enforcement official said a gun was taken from 37-year-old Alton Sterling after he was killed early Tuesday in the parking lot where he regularly sold homemade music CDs from a folding table. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. It was not clear from the murky cellphone footage whether Sterling had the gun in his hand or was reaching for it when he was shot. A witness said he saw police pull a gun from Sterling’s pocket after the shooting. The shooting in the Louisiana capital — and shocking videos that found their way all over the internet — set off angry protests in the city’s black community and brought calls for an outside investigation. It came at a time when law enforcement officers across the country are under close scrutiny over what some see as indiscriminate use of deadly force against blacks. Moving quickly just one day after the shooting, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards asked the Justice Department to take the lead in the investigation. “I have very serious concerns. The video is disturbing, to say the least,” the governor said at a news c

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