The Minnesota police officer who fatally shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop in July has been charged with second-degree manslaughter and two felony counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi announced Wednesday.
St. Anthony police Officer Jeronimo Yanez will make a first court appearance Friday, Choi said.
News of Castile's July 6 death spread like wildfire on social media when his fiancée, Diamond Reynolds, live-streamed the aftermath of the shooting on Facebook Live.
(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on July 07, 2016 shows an editor watching a video in Washington, DC, of the dying moments of a black man shot by Minnesota police after being pulled over while driving.
A woman, identified on her Facebook page as Lavish Reynolds, livestreamed her boyfriend's dying moments after a new police shooting a day after a similar event in Louisiana. Police confirmed the shooting by an officer. Family and activists identified the victim as school cafeteria worker Philando Castile, 32. Castile can be seen in the driver seat, large blood stains spreading through his white shirt. Reynolds sat next to him and her young daughter was also traveling in the car. / AFP / STF (Photo credit should read STF/AFP/Getty Images)
In the live-stream, she says the officer had pulled Castile over for a broken tail light, and that he had told the officer that he had a gun and a concealed-carry permit.
She said the officer asked for Castile's license and registration and as he reached for his wallet, the officer shot him. The officer says in the video that he had "told him not to reach for it."
Choi said Yanez fired seven rounds into the car.
The incident, along with the July 5 fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, sparked protests nationwide and renewed the debate over the relationship between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
