United States civil rights investigators will probe the fatal police shooting of a black father of five in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, officials said, as the city's mayor and police chief faced angry calls to resign.
Key points:
- Two videos captured the moment when Alton Sterling, 37, was shot 5 times at close range by police
- Police confirm Mr Sterling was armed
- Federal authorities will handle the investigation, led by the Department of Justice civil rights division
Captured on at least two videos, the graphic images show Alton Sterling, 37, pinned to the ground and shot five times in the chest by two white police officers outside a convenience store.
It has triggered renewed protests in the city and outrage nationwide as the US struggles to respond to alleged police brutality against black suspects.
The shooting came on the eve of a closely watched trial in Baltimore for an officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray, a black man whose spine broke last year while he was transported in a police van.
Mr Sterling was fatally shot in the early hours of Tuesday after an anonymous caller told police they had been threatened by a man with a gun, according to the police.
One of the two officers shot Mr Sterling five times at close range, and the other removed something from Mr Sterling's pants pocket as he was dying, according to images on a video recorded by Abdullah Muflahi, the owner of the store.
"I'm heartbroken. It's outrageous. It's crazy," said Mr Muflahi, who considered Mr Sterling a friend and allowed him to sell CDs outside his store.
He provided a copy of the video to Reuters and said police took a gun from Mr Sterling's pocket. Police have confirmed Mr Sterling was armed.
Officials appealed for calm and promised a transparent investigation.
Calling the evidence "disturbing," Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said federal authorities will take over the investigation, led by the Department of Justice civil rights division.
"I have very serious concerns," Mr Edwards told a news conference in Baton Rouge. "The video is disturbing to say the least."
Mr Edwards said he spoke to the White House as he moved to defuse tensions in the city, and planned to meet with faith-based community leaders to appeal for calm.
Baton Rouge officials identified the officers involved as Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II. Both were placed on administrative leave, according to procedure, pending the results of the investigation.
At an emotional press conference held earlier with relatives of the victim, the head of the civil rights group NAACP in Baton Rouge, Michael McClanahan, called for the resignations of the police chief and mayor.
"What we are going to do today is rule out the one per cent of bad police officers that go around becoming the judge, the jury, the executioner of people period but more specifically, innocent black lives," he said.
Both city officials responded with assurances of transparency.
"We're an inclusive city," said Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden. "We have a wound right now. But we'll be healing and making the city and parish whole again."
Killing documented from several angles
Suspicion over police actions grew after reports emerged that the officers' body cameras fell off during the confrontation.
Authorities also seized the convenience store's video surveillance system, but have yet to release any footage.
Police chief Carl Dabadie said he was "demanding answers".
"There is a lot that we do not understand," Mr Dabadie said. "It is our goal and our mission to make sure that a thorough, just, transparent and independent investigation be conducted into this incident."
Another graphic video shot by a witness and circulated online showed the altercation between the two officers and Mr Sterling at 12:35am local time.
In the video, the officers ordered the tall and heavy-set Mr Sterling to the ground, but he remained standing.
The officers wrestled him to the floor, and while he was pinned down one officer pulled a gun and shot Mr Sterling several times at close range.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner's Office said Mr Sterling was killed by multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and back.
Mr Muflahi, the owner of the Triple S convenience store, told The Advocate newspaper that it happened after officers hit Mr Sterling with a taser, which failed to bring him down.
An officer yelled "gun" during the scuffle, Mr Muflahi said.
Protests kick off at Baton Rouge site
Relatives of Mr Sterling and acquaintances from the neighbourhood described him as a local fixture who had been peddling copied CDs, DVDs and games in front of the Triple S Food Mart for years.
According to court records, he had multiple criminal convictions since the mid-1990s, for battery, resisting arrest, burglary and other crimes.
Cameron Sterling, Mr Sterling's 15-year-old son, broke down at a news conference on Wednesday morning as his mother spoke.
"He was killed unjustly and without regard for the lives he helped raise," said the mother, who did not give her name.
Protesters, including friends and relatives of Mr Sterling, gathered outside the convenience store after the shooting, some blocking roads.
Holding up handmade signs, they chanted: "Black lives matter" and "Hands up, don't shoot".
African American civil rights leader Jesse Jackson expressed his outrage: "The shooting of #AltonSterling in #BatonRouge is a legal lynching. Justice must prevail," he wrote on Twitter.
Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers football team, called the incident a lynching on Instagram, writing: "Another murder in the streets because (of) the colour of a man's skin, at the hands of the people who they say will protect us."
Civil rights group Black Lives Matter, which was referenced by many protesters in Louisiana, tweeted: "Enough is enough. #AltonSterling."
AFP/Reuters