US Police Violence: Minnesota Black Man Shot in Car

Local Editor

Another black man has been shot dead by police in the US state of Minnesota as protests continued over the police killing of a black man in Louisiana.

Philando Castile's friend live-streamed the aftermath, showing him covered in blood with a police officer pointing his gun at him.

He was shot as he reached for his driving license, she said.

It follows the death of Alton Sterling, who was shot dead by police during an incident in Baton Rouge on Tuesday.

Hundreds of people had protested for two nights over Sterling's killing.

The deaths follow a long line of high-profile incidents involving African-Americans at the hands of the police, igniting a national debate about the lethal use of force.

Castile had been stopped in Falcon Heights, a suburb of St Paul, because the car had a broken rear light, the woman, identified in local media reports as Lavish Reynolds, said.

Before he was shot, he told the officer that he was licensed to carry a concealed gun and had one in his possession, she said.

"You shot four bullets into him, sir. He was just getting his license and registration, sir," Reynolds says in the video.

Police said an investigation was under way and the officer involved has been put on leave.

Castile, 32, worked as a cafeteria supervisor at a Montessori school.

He was a "black individual driving in Falcon Heights who was immediately criminally profiled", his cousin Antonio Johnson told the Star Tribune newspaper.

Separately, hundreds of people gathered for a second night of protests in Baton Rouge at the shop where Alton Sterling, 37, was killed on Tuesday.

Demonstrators chanted "Black lives matter" and called for justice.

The murder of the two black men are the most recent in the spate of violence committed by US police.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team