Alton Sterling Shooting: 1 Police Officer Fired, 2nd Suspended

BATON ROUGE, LA -- Disturbing body camera footage has been released in the shooting death of Alton Sterling and disciplinary action has been announced for the two white Baton Rouge police officers involved. Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul on Friday announced that officer Blane Salamoni was fired and officer Howie Lake II was suspended for three days stemming from the July 2016 shooting.

Salamoni and Lake encountered Sterling, a black man, selling homemade CDs outside a convenience store. They had been called to the store for a report about a man with a gun. Body camera footage and other videos showed one officer repeatedly use profanity and shout at Sterling, even threatening to shoot Sterling in the head.

Sterling can be heard telling the officers they're hurting him, and one says they should zap him with a stun gun. An electric buzz can then be heard in the videos. One officer then tackles Sterling and someone yells out "he's got a gun!"

Gunshots then erupt.

Salamoni shot Sterling six times during the struggle. Lake helped wrestle Sterling to the ground but didn't fire his weapon.

With Sterling on the ground, one officer uses profanity to say Sterling behaved stupidly.

The officers found a revolver in Sterling's pocket, which he wasn't allowed to carry since he was a convicted felon. The video doesn't show the gun. Lake told the other officer he put it in the car.

Paul, the police chief, called the video graphic and "shocking to the conscience." But, he warned, it only tells "part of the story." He also begged the community to cooperate with officers.

"Please stop resisting, stop running, when the police officer gives you direction, listen," he said.

Salamoni was fired for violating use-of-force polices Paul told reporters.

L. Chris Stewart, a lawyer representing two of Sterling's children, said the videos released Friday are proof that Salamoni attacked Sterling unprovoked, "like a wild dog."

"The most obvious thing that stands out is Alton wasn't fighting back at all," Stewart said. "He's trying to defuse it the whole time."

Louisiana's attorney general ruled out criminal charges against the police officers in the shooting. Citing a toxicology report, officials said Sterling had illegal drugs in his system at the time of the confrontation. It was reasonable to conclude he was under the influence of drugs during the struggle and that contributed to his non-compliance, officials said.

Photo credit:: In this June 27, 2017 photo, Ronald Smith gets on his bicycle after stopping at the Triple S Food Mart, where Alton Sterling was shot by police one year ago, in Baton Rouge, La. Louisiana's attorney general plans to meet Tuesday, March 27, 2018, with relatives of Sterling, a black man who was shot and killed by a white Baton Rouge police officer, to inform them whether his office will charge either of the two officers involved in the deadly struggle, according to two family lawyers. Photo by Gerald Herbert, File/Associated Press