The 15-year-old son of Alton Sterling, who was fatally gunned down by two officers in Baton Rogue Tuesday morning, broke down in tears as his mother spoke in a press conference on Wednesday.
Cameron, who was standing beside his mother, sobbed into his shirt before his family members wrapped him in their arms to provide him comfort.
“I want my dad,” he said while his mother, Quinyetta McMillon, spoke about the injustice her dead husband suffered in the hands of the officers.
“The individuals involved in his murder took away a man with children who depend upon their daddy on a daily basis,” Quinyetta McMillon said. “My son is not the youngest, he is the oldest of his siblings. He is 15 years old. He had to watch this as this was put all over the outlets.”
“As some may know, Alton sold CDs, and was doing just that, not bothering anyone. And had the consent of the store owners as well,” McMillon added.
WATCH: Alton Sterling’s son weeps as his mother calls for justice in Sterling’s fatal shooting by Baton Rouge police https://t.co/yTgv3X5NBC
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) July 6, 2016
The officers who shot Alton Sterling dead, Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II, have been placed on paid administrative leave, according to USA Today. Salamoni has been working for the Baton Rouge Police Department for four years while Lake has been on the police force for three years, according to the police.
The investigation of the shooting incident has been turned over to the federal authorities.
Alton, who sells CDs for a living, was shot to death by the police officers outside a convenience store on Tuesday night. According to the police, Lane and Salamoni came to the scene after receiving a 911 call from an anonymous caller who claimed that he saw a man pull out a gun and threaten someone. While no one knows for sure whether the man referred to in the 911 call was Alton Sterling, police claimed that he fit the description that was given to them.
In a cellphone video recorded by a community activist, Lane and Salamoni were seen confronting Sterling until they pinned him to the ground. A total of five gunshots were heard right after one of the officers screamed, “He’s got a gun! Gun!”
The owner of the convenience store outside of which Sterling peddled his CDs, Abdul Muflahi, told local TV that the first officer who entered the scene fired a stun gun at Sterling before the second officer tackled him, as reported by Al Jazeera. Muflahi said that Sterling didn’t have a gun on him during the altercation, but that he saw one of the officers removing a gun from one of his pockets after the shooting.
With blood pooling over his chest, Sterling was pronounced dead at the scene.
The shooting of Alton Sterling stirred up protests all over the US condemning the way with which the two officers handled the situation leading up to his death. Around 200 people gathered in front of the Triple S Food Mart where Sterling was shot, with some of them carrying signs to express their anger and call for justice. Clearly heard among the crowd were chants of “black lives matter” and “hands up don’t shoot.”
By Wednesday morning, protesters and friends constructed a makeshift memorial for Alton Sterling, right on the white folding tables and chair the dad had set up to sell his CDs.
Alton Sterling didn’t have to die. It’s time to address police violence | Samuel Sinyangwe https://t.co/FffgCeCG2l
— The Guardian (@guardian) July 7, 2016
Before long, family and community leaders held a press conference to make the request that the investigation of the case be handed over to federal authorities. Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards later announced that the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division will conduct the investigation.
Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie Jr. called Sterling’s shooting a “horrible tragedy” and said that there are still some questions that demand answers.
[Image via New York Daily News/YouTube]
