It happened again–a cellphone video circulating on social media shows police shooting a black man at close range, only hours after Independence Day celebrations ebbed. Early Tuesday morning Alton Sterling, 37, was shot and killed when pinned to the ground by two police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

According to reports from Louisiana police an anonymous person called 911 and said that a man selling CDs outside the grocery store had threatened him with a gun. Police arrived at the scene, tasered Sterling and wrestled him to the ground.

The cellphone video shows how seconds later someone says, “He’s got a gun.” This led the officers to shoot Sterling even though he was already lying on the ground. It was later confirmed he was shot multiple times in the chest and the back, sparking outrage on social media and protests in Baton Rouge.

This is the video.

Executed in cold blood https://t.co/BWJVRQr1qU #AltonSterling

— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) July 6, 2016

A Man, a Father, a Husband, a Black Man, an American, shot while laying on his back. Tell me why Again? Heaven Help us All #AltonSterling

— LeVelle Moton (@LeVelleMoton) July 6, 2016

According to local media, residents who took to the streets accepted the fact that the same civil unrest and race-focused protests that have grown in other cities have now arrived in Baton Rouge. In Baton Rouge the African-American population is divided from the white, in many cases living in separate neighborhoods and under the poverty line.

Even though protesters stopped traffic and no police officers were in sight, the protests were largely non-violent and controlled.

The #AltonSterling aftermath pic.twitter.com/PPvSuiEtaz

— Avi (@RecklessAvi_) July 6, 2016

Alton Sterling was a father of three and sold his CDs in front of the convenience store. The owner Abdullah Muflahi told CNN that they had known each other for six years and that he never saw any argument between Sterling and someone else. He also never saw the gun-waving incident that allegedly was called in to 911.

“Pretty much everybody who knows him knows he’s a sweet person,” Sterling’s sister, Mignon Chambers, said to WVLA-TV.

Sterling’s family spoke at a press conference about the shooting:

This must stop. Enough!RT @CNN: "I want my daddy": #AltonSterling’s 15-year-old son in tears https://t.co/6PcxaxmfXC https://t.co/pP1CgsU3Mq

— Kristin Diable (@kristindiable) July 6, 2016

The shooting comes a little more than a week after the actor Jesse Williams gave a speech at the BET Awards on racism, and urged listeners to not accept police brutality. According to CNN, the police officers involved in Sterling’s death are now on administrative leave.

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Jay Z’s “Decoded” ghostwriter may need to work on her discretion after spilling some of the Carters’ philanthropic secrets publicly via Twitter. The ghostwriter, dream hampton, is a writer, award-winning filmmaker, and social justice organizer active in the Black Lives Matter movement. According to hampton, Jay Z and Beyoncé shelled out tens of thousands of dollars to bail out jailed protesters in Baltimore and Ferguson, but had requested their charitable actions be kept under wraps.

In a string of tweets posted Sunday that have now been deleted (but were screenshot by Complex) hampton wrote,

I’m going to tweet this and I don’t care if Jay gets mad

When we needed money for bail for Baltimore protestors, I asked hit Jay up, as I had for Ferguson , wired tens of thousands in mins.

When BLM needed infrastructure money for the many chapters that we’re growing like beautiful dandelions, Carters wrote a huge check.

…and more stuff, too much to list actually, that they always insist folk keep quiet.

Later that night, hampton went on to clarify her tweets which she later called “error ridden,” writing:

Jay & B for stacks. It’s true they gave, which is why I tweeted it. but I erased it within minutes, because ppl believe what they want to.

— dream hampton (@dreamhampton) May 18, 2015

ok, let me give password back to my assistant. Just came on here to say I was not in some foxhole texting Jay & B for bail money.

— dream hampton (@dreamhampton) May 18, 2015

They gave cuz that’s what they do. & should I ever get major bread, I’m gonna be Howard Hughes, wiring out money anonymously too

— dream hampton (@dreamhampton) May 18, 2015

Hampton’s honesty may have been motivated by critics consistently condemning the Carters for not speaking out publicly after the deaths of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray, which resulted in protests from thousands in Ferguson and Baltimore. In actuality the notoriously private couple, whose combined net worth is estimated at over $1 billion, had quietly been active with their contributions, which in many ways says a lot about their generosity.

Bankrolling bail money isn’t the only contribution the Carters have made to the Black Lives Matter movement. According to Billboard, Jay Z also reportedly helped smuggle in “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts to players at a December Brooklyn Nets game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, and that same month met with New York governor Andrew Cuomo to discuss possible reforms for the justice system.

Jay Z and Beyoncé’s reps have neither confirmed nor denied these rumored contributions, but they may not be too happy with their loose lipped associate. She may also be in a bit of trouble, as she’s now notifying everyone with her Twitter bio that she is on hiatus.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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