What We Know About Man Minnesota Police Killed in Traffic Stop

Philando Castile was a nutrition services supervisor at an elementary school.

ByABC News
July 7, 2016, 3:11 PM

— -- More details have emerged about the man who was fatally shot by a Minnesota police officer during a traffic stop Wednesday night as he sat in a car with a woman and child.

The victim has been identified by family as Philando Castile. He was employed as a nutrition services assistant from November 2002 until being promoted to a nutrition services supervisor at J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School Aug. 11, 2014, according to the St. Paul Public Schools.

Castile also worked at Arlington High School and Chelsea Heights Elementary School during his employment with the district, the school system said.

The incident in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St. Paul, appeared to be partly documented in a Facebook Live recording posted by the woman in the car, who identified herself as the man's girlfriend and said her daughter was also in the vehicle.

Police have identified the woman recording the altercation as Diamond Reynolds. In the video, Castile's shirt appears to be soaked in blood. At least one uniformed officer is seen pointing a gun through the driver's side window at Castile and can be heard saying, "I told him not to reach for it. I told him to get his hand out."

Speaking to a crowd in front of Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton's residence in St. Paul Wednesday morning, Reynolds said the officer began to shoot after she yelled that Castile was "licensed to carry."

The St. Anthony Police Department said an officer making a traffic stop at 9 p.m. Wednesday. "During the stop, shots were fired," the statement said. "One adult male was taken to the hospital. We have been informed that this individual is deceased."

The department said that no one else was injured and a handgun was recovered from the scene.

The video, posted Wednesday night, appears to show an incident similar to the one police described. It shows Reynolds sitting in a car with Castile, whose shirt appears soaked in blood, saying an officer shot her boyfriend.

PHOTO: Cell phone video, captured in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, shows Diamond Reynolds sitting in a car with Philando Castile, whose shirt appeared to be soaked in blood, saying an officer shot her boyfriend, July 6, 2016.
Cell phone video, captured in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, shows Diamond Reynolds sitting in a car with Philando Castile, whose shirt appeared to be soaked in blood, saying an officer shot her boyfriend, July 6, 2016.

"Please, officer, don't tell me that you just did this to him," she says in the video. "You shot four bullets into him, sir. He was just getting his license and registration, sir."

Reynolds can be heard saying on video that the officer "asked him for license and registration. He told him that it was in his wallet but he had a pistol on him because he's licensed to carry. The officer said, 'Don't move.' As he was putting his hands back up, the officer shot him in the arm four or five times."

In an interview with CNN this morning, the man's mother, Valerie Castile, said that he's "been working since he was 15 years old.

"He's been paying taxes since he was 18 years old," she said. "He's been consistently employed all those years. I just don't understand it ... I'm outraged about the whole situation because he is a really good person. He's laid back. Everybody likes him. He's no thug. He don't run the street. He don't go to bars. He just does none of that."

Nekima Levy-Pounds, the president of the NAACP Minneapolis chapter, confirmed Castile's identity in a tweet early today.

UPDATE: #PhilandoCastile was killed by St. Anthony Police Dept. earlier tonight. He was a kitchen worker at JJ Hill at St. Paul Schools.

Nekima Levy-Pounds (@nvlevy) July 7, 2016
PHOTO: Cell phone footage seen here shows the victim bleeding heavily in the passenger seat of a vehicle. The officer can be seen pointing a gun through the window in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, July, 6, 2016.
Cell phone footage seen here shows the victim bleeding heavily in the passenger seat of a vehicle. The officer can be seen pointing a gun through the window in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, July, 6, 2016.

In the CNN interview this morning, Valerie Castile said her son had a concealed weapon permit for Minnesota.

Just hours before he was shot, Valerie Castile said, he was at her house talking with his sister, who also has a permit, about how concealed-carry permit holders must be cautious, especially African-Americans.

"My daughter said, 'You know what? I really don't even want to carry my gun because I'm afraid that they'll shoot me first and then ask questions later,'" Valerie Castile told CNN.

She said she believes her son told the police officer he was licensed to carry a gun.

"I'm sure he did, because that was something we always discussed. Comply," she told CNN this morning. "That's the key thing in order to survive being stopped by the police is to comply. Whatever they ask you to do, do it. Don't say nothing. Just do whatever they want you to do. So what's the difference in complying and you get killed anyway?"

PHOTO: Philando Castile, 32, was shot and killed by police in Minnesota during a traffic stop, July 6, 2016.
Philando Castile, 32, was shot and killed by police in Minnesota during a traffic stop, July 6, 2016.

ABC News' Dom Proto contributed to this report.

In the CNN interview this morning, Valerie Castile said her son had a concealed weapon permit for Minnesota.

Just hours before he was shot, Valerie Castile said, he was at her house talking with his sister, who also has a permit, about how concealed-carry permit holders must be cautious, especially African-Americans.

\"My daughter said, 'You know what? I really don't even want to carry my gun because I'm afraid that they'll shoot me first and then ask questions later,'\" Valerie Castile told CNN.

She said she believes her son told the police officer he was licensed to carry a gun.

\"I'm sure he did, because that was something we always discussed. Comply,\" she told CNN this morning. \"That's the key thing in order to survive being stopped by the police is to comply. Whatever they ask you to do, do it. Don't say nothing. Just do whatever they want you to do. So what's the difference in complying and you get killed anyway?\"

ABC News' Dom Proto contributed to this report.

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