Perpetrator
Victim
What happened:
Sterling was shot and killed about 12:35 a.m. on Tuesday, July 5, 2016. He was selling CDs outside the Triple S Food Mart, at the corner of Fairfields Avenue and North Foster Drive. The officers had responded to a disturbance call in which the caller said someone had been threatening him with a gun. The store’s owner, Abdullah Muflahi claimed that Sterling was armed because he had been mugged recently, but said Sterling was not holding his gun or touching his pockets during the incident.
When Baton Rouge Police Department Officers Howie Lake II and Blane Salamoni arrived, they confronted Sterling, tased him, forced him to the ground and shot him several times at close range while he was held down on the ground. Despite video footage, there was no evidence that Sterling ever reached for a gun or acted in a way that necessitated him being shot multiple times while on the ground.
An autopsy was conducted later Tuesday. He died of multiple gunshot wounds to the back and chest according to the East Baton Rouge Coroner’s Office. The wounds to the back were entrance wounds.
Outcome:
After the shooting Lake II and Salamoni were placed on administrative leave. A criminal investigation, led by the U.S. Department of Justice, was undertaken, in which the the FBI and state police were involved. However in May 2, 2017, they decided that it would not file criminal charges against the police officers.
After this decision was made by the Department of Justice, Louisiana’s attorney general. Jeff Landry, said that the state of Louisiana would open an investigation into the shooting once the Department of Justice releases the physical evidence.
A federal civil rights investigation was also conducted.
Howie Lake II and Blane Salamoni have been investigated and cleared 5 times between their collective seven years (at the time of Sterling’s murder) working for the Baton Rouge police department.
Sources:
Date:
July 5 2016Location:
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Howie Lake II is a white male.
He attended Parkview Baptist High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana graduating in 2006. He then played college football as an offensive lineman, at Louisiana College. Lake is married
He has been with the department since 2013. He has been investigated twice for excessive force in connection with two incidents in 2014. One in which he was one of six officers who shot a 28 year old man, Kevin Knight. In August, he was accused of injuring a 15 year old boy while arresting him.