Was Philando Castile Reaching For His Gun When He Was Shot?

By Bob Owens

Attorneys for the St. Anthony (MN) police officer who shot and killed Philando Castile during a traffic stop in July of 2016 claim that he fired because Castile hid his right hand and officer Yanez thought Castile was reaching for his gun.

Attorneys for a Minnesota police officer accused of fatally shooting Philando Castile during a traffic stop say the 32-year-old black man was reaching for his gun when he was killed.

In a memorandum filed on Tuesday, defense attorneys for officer Jeronimo Yanez argued his actions were ‘intentional and justified’ because Castile reached for his gun, which they said was ‘accessible’.

The memo contradicts prosecutors’ claims that Yanez, who is charged with manslaughter and two felony counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm, didn’t see the weapon and made conflicting statements about it.

Castile, a school cafeteria employee, was shot seven times during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, on July 6, 2016, the aftermath of which was livestreamed on Facebook by his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds.

The police officer had pulled over the couple because they ‘looked like the people that were involved in a robbery’ at a nearby convenience store, and because of a non-working brake light, according to the criminal …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms