Young child consoles mother after police shooting (Video)

Girl Pleads With Mother After Castile Killing: ‘I Don’t Want You to Get Shooted!’

by SAFIA SAMEE ALI
NBC News

The terrified four-year-old witness to the killing of Philando Castile by a Minnesota cop pleaded with her mother to cooperate with police moments after his death telling her “I don’t want you to get shooted,” a newly released police video shows.

The video, which came out with a bundle of evidence from the Castile trial, captures the interaction between Diamond Reynolds, Castile’s girlfriend, and her daughter as they were held in the back of a squad car shortly after the shooting.

In the heart-wrenching video, a handcuffed Reynolds yells “F—!” — and immediately her young daughter begins to cry begging her mother to “please stop cussing and screaming because I don’t want you to get shooted.”

The weeping girl then embraces her mother, who tells her to give her a kiss.

“I can keep you safe,” says the girl, while wiping away tears from her face.

“I can’t believe they just did that,” Reynolds whispers to herself — to which the girl begins to cry uncontrollably.

Reynolds then attempts to get out of her handcuffs, and the girl again desperately yells for her to be calm, out of fear for her mother’s safety.

“No! Please no! I don’t want you to get shooted!” she said.

“They’re not going to shoot me, I’m already in handcuffs,” Reynolds responds in an attempt to pacify the frazzled girl.

The emotional video shines new light on the tragic aftermath of Castile’s tragic shooting by Officer Jeronimo Yanez who fired seven bullets into him after he told the officer he had a firearm.

Yanez told investigators and a jury that he believed Castile was reaching for the weapon.

But Reynolds, who live streamed the immediate moments after her boyfriend was shot on Facebook, told authorities that he was only reaching for his wallet.

Police Officer Fatally Shoots Black Man During Traffic Stop Near St. PaulDiamond Reynolds, holding her daughter, speaks to a crowd outside the Governor’s Mansion on July 7, 2016 in
St. Paul, Minnesota.
Stephen Maturen / Getty Images

She is also heard saying “he’s not pulling it out!” in the police dashcam video seconds before the gunfire.

Yanez was acquitted by a jury on charges of manslaughter and dangerous discharge of a firearm — sparking outrage in the community as well as with civil rights organizations across the nation.

Reynolds testified during the trial that she recorded the encounter out of fear for her own life.

“Because I know that the people are not protected by police,” Reynolds said, according to NBC Minneapolis affiliate KARE. “I wanted to make sure if I was to die in front of my daughter, someone would know the truth.”

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http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/girl-pleads-mother-after-castile-killing-i-don-t-want-n775296

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