As her boyfriend was fatally shot by police during a traffic stop for a broken tail light, a Minnesota woman streamed the entire event live on Facebook. Lavisha Reynolds’ boyfriend informed the officer that he had a permit to carry a concealed weapon and had his weapon on him. According to Reynolds, the officer asked for he boyfriend’s identification and permit then shot the man as he reached for his wallet.
In the livestream Reynolds says,
We got pulled over for a busted taillight in the back. The police just, just…he’s covered.
He’s licensed to carry. He was trying to get out his ID and his wallet out his pocket, and he let the officer know that he had a firearm, and he was reaching for his wallet, and the officer just shot him in his arm.
While she speaks, the distressed officer can be heard yelling, “I told him not to reach for it, I told him to get his hands up.” Reynolds’ 4-year-old daughter had already been removed from the car by police. Moments later Reynolds is ordered to exit the vehicle, handcuffed, and placed in the back seat of a police car with her daughter.
Her boyfriend, later identified as 32-year-old Philando Castile, was a cafeteria supervisor at a public school in St. Paul. According to CNN, Castile died at the hospital from multiple gunshot wounds.
The video below was viewed more than 1 million times before it was removed from Facebook. It was later re-released on multiple social media outlets with a graphic content warning. The video was filmed with the front facing camera of Reynolds’ phone which flips the image.
WARNING: The video below contains extremely graphic content.