As the nation watched in horror the July 7 tragedy in Dallas, reactions poured in from Santa Barbara activists and law enforcement officials, who found themselves reeling from two police killings of African-American men earlier in the week.
Alton Sterling was the first to go. Early on July 5, outside the Triple S convenience store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Sterling, 37, was shot to death when police responded to a report of a “black man with a red shirt selling music CDs,” who had reportedly threatened the caller with a gun, reported the New York Times. At least two cell-phone videos taken by bystanders depict two officers pinning Sterling to the ground, where he was shot six times — twice in the chest.
The next evening, 32-year-old Philando Castile was stopped for a broken taillight by two police officers in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, livestreamed his death to Facebook in a 10-minute video in which she says Castile informed police he was licensed to carry before they asked him for his ID card. When he reached for his ID, she said, he was shot four times.