National Police Shootings Impact Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, NC — Outrage and anger tonight after two deadly officer-involved shootings in two days. One man killed in Louisiana, another in Minnesota.

Protesters are taking to the streets of Charlotte and around the country. Communities are demanding answers and justice. These shootings only adding to the deepening racial divide when it comes to law enforcement.

“Would this have happened if those passengers, the driver and the passenger, were white?,” asked Minnesota Governor Mark Drayton at a press conference Thursday. “I don’t think it would have.”

The governor was describing the officer-involved shooting, in his state, that left Philando Castile dead.

“We got pulled over for a busted taillight in the back. And the police – he’s covered, he killed my boyfriend, he’s licensed to carry, he was trying to get out his ID.”

Those words from Diamond Reynolds, Castile’s girlfriend, during a live-stream after an officer shot him several times, with her daughter in the back seat.

In Louisiana, Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police outside a convenience store, after being pinned to the ground by officers. He had a gun in his pocket, in a state where no permit is needed to carry a concealed weapon.

Now both communities, and the nation, are calling for answers and change.

“If we were not in a suit and tie and in the halls of Congress, we would look just like the victims of this deadly force,” said Louisiana Representative Cedric Richmond during a press conference held by black legislatures in Washington D.C.

“We should be able to step back, reflect and ask ourselves what can we do better so that everybody feels as if they’re equal under the law?” said President Obama during a trip to Poland Thursday.

The impact of the events in Louisiana and Minnesota are being felt here in Charlotte.

“I understand the frustration, because I’m a black man as well,” says Charlotte activist and organizer Shaun Corbett. “But my thing is that we have to focus on those issues that are creating these problems.”

Corbett says building a better understanding between law enforcement and the black community, as people, is the way to start defusing the tension.

“Being a police officer is just a job,” says Corbett. “You’re still a person. You know what I’m saying. We need to restructure the way we think as human beings, as people, how we treat each other. And then we can start knocking down some of these walls that are built.”

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating both shootings. The officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave.