World

New US police shooting in Minnesota as protests continue in Baton Rouge

July 7, 2016 5:20 pm

A black man has been shot dead by police in front of a child in the US state of Minnesota as protests continued over the police killing of a black man in Louisiana.

Philando Castile, 32, was shot in his car as he reached for his driving licence, his girlfriend said in a Facebook Live video taken during the aftermath.

Her child was in the car at the time.

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It follows the death of Alton Sterling, who was shot dead by police during an incident in Baton Rouge on Tuesday.

Hundreds of people have protested for two nights over Mr Sterling’s killing.

The deaths follow a long line of high-profile incidents involving African-Americans at the hands of the police, igniting a national debate about the lethal use of force.

The footage taken by Castile’s girlfriend in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St Paul, shows Mr Castile covered in blood next to her and a police officer outside the car pointing his gun at him.

Castile had earlier told the officer that he was licensed to carry a concealed gun and had one in his possession, she said.

“You shot four bullets into him, sir. He was just getting his license and registration, sir,” the woman, identified in local media reports as Diamond Reynolds, says.