8:45 p.m.
The government of the Bahamas has issued a rare travel advisory for any of its citizens visiting the U.S., noting that young males should in particular take care.
A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Caribbean nation warns visitors to “exercise appropriate caution” amid tensions in some U.S. cities over the shootings of young black males by police officers.
The advisory says, “In particular young males are asked to exercise extreme caution in affected cities in their interactions with the police. Do not be confrontational and cooperate.”
The ministry also advises people not to get involved in demonstrations and to avoid crowds.
The U.S. regularly issues travel advisories for Americans visiting other countries. In January, the U.S. Embassy in Nassau put out a warning over crime in the Bahamian capital, which prompted complaints from business owners in the tourism dependent island nation.
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8 p.m.
The head of a law enforcement organization is criticizing Minnesota’s governor for saying he thinks a police officer who shot and killed a black motorist this week never would have fired if the driver had been white.
Dennis Flaherty, executive director of the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, called Gov. Mark Dayton’s comments an “extraordinarily presumptive conclusion” that could lead to more violence.
Dayton said earlier Friday that he hadn’t heard anything that would make him change his initial assessment of the death of Philando Castile in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights.
Flaherty said in a written statement that Dayton was “taking justice into his own hands” instead of letting investigators do their job.
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6 p.m.
Public records show that the suburban St. Paul officer who fatally shot a black man during a traffic stop is a married father known for volunteering with his police department.
Investigators say St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez opened fire during a traffic stop Wednesday of Philando Castile, whose girlfriend live-streamed the shooting’s immediate aftermath on Facebook.
Police have released few details about Yanez, a four-year veteran of the St. Anthony Police Department.
But public records show the 28-year-old has a wife and child, and graduated from Minnesota State University Mankato with a degree in law enforcement in 2010.
Yanez lives in a two-story frame house on a cul-de-sac just north of St. Paul, where children were playing outside Friday. Neighbors declined to talk about Yanez or the case.
The department’s 2015 annual report notes he gave Cub Scouts a tour of the station and volunteered with St. Paul’s Cinco De Mayo celebration. A year earlier, a photograph showed him standing guard at a fallen-officers memorial.
Yanez’s attorney hasn’t returned several messages from The Associated Press.
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4 p.m.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is asking residents to remain calm in the wake of a fatal shooting of a black motorist in suburban St. Paul and several officers being killed during a Dallas protest.
Dayton on Friday praised the peaceful demonstrators who have surrounded his St. Paul residence for several days as they protest the killing of Philando Castile. Castile’s girlfriend live-streamed the shooting’s gruesome aftermath on Facebook.
The Democratic governor also said he stands by his statements Thursday that police likely wouldn’t have opened fire had Castile been white.
Dayton says that statement sparked a flood of reaction that reflects the “difference that exists in Minnesota and across the country” on the issue of police-community relations and race. He also said he had no new information about the case.
Dayton has emerged from his residence to talk with protesters several times this week. He says he wants to get input from people “on the front lines.” He says change can’t be a top-down approach and needs to come from the community level.
(This item has been updated to show Dayton praised demonstrators.)
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10:50 a.m.
A Minnesota prosecutor says his office has not met with the family of Philando Castile, who was shot and killed by an officer in suburban St. Paul this week.
Ramsey County Prosecutor John Choi said at a Friday news conference that will happen when his office receives the case.
Castile was shot Wednesday during a traffic stop. His girlfriend broadcast the minutes after the shooting on Facebook. The school cafeteria supervisor had been shot “for no apparent reason” while reaching for his wallet after telling the officer he had a gun and a permit to carry it, she says in the video.
State investigators named the two officers involved in the Minnesota shooting as Jeronimo Yanez and Joseph Kauser. Both had been with the St. Anthony Police Department for four years and were put on administrative leave.
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10:45 a.m.
A Minnesota prosecutor says there must be better interactions between police and African-Americans.
Ramsey County Prosecutor John Choi said at a Friday news conference that his staff has been working closely with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on the investigation, which he says is a top priority.
He has asked for a “prompt and thorough investigation” in Wednesday’s shooting of Philando Castile, and they’ll present the case to the prosecutor’s office. Choi says he thinks there are benefits to using grand juries but will decide later.
Protesters on Thursday urged Choi not to use a grand jury, arguing it’s secretive and lets police officers off the hook.
Choi also asked for peace throughout the U.S. and in protests.
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9:45 a.m.
The girlfriend of Philando Castile, who was fatally shot by police during a traffic stop in a St. Paul suburb, says the Dallas shootings were not caused by his death alone.
Diamond Reynolds said Friday on CNN that instead it’s about all the people who have lost family members at the hands of police, including Trayvon Martin. Martin was shot and killed in 2012 in Florida by a neighborhood watch volunteer.
Reynolds’ words came hours after the sniper shootings of Dallas police officers. Authorities say the suspect, who was killed, told police he was upset about recent police shootings.
Castile’s family is calling for an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, independent of the state probe by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
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7 a.m.
St. Paul police made one arrest after bottles and rocks were thrown by a rogue group of protesters who broke away from a peaceful demonstration outside the governor’s residence in the aftermath of a fatal police shooting.
Police say the group made their way to a nearby commercial street where they broke the storefront window of one business as well as windows of an unattended police squad car.
Sgt. Mike Ernster says officers used a chemical irritant to stop the perpetrators. He says the individual arrested could face a charge of felony riot. No serious injuries were reported.
Police say demonstrators continued to gather peacefully outside the governor’s mansion.
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6:15 a.m.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the Minnesota governor’s mansion in St. Paul to support family and friends grieving a black man fatally shot by police during a routine traffic stop.
The gathering Thursday evening was the second time a crowd grew outside the governor’s residence in the wake of the fatal shooting of Philando Castile by a police officer in suburban Falcon Heights. Gov. Mark Dayton spoke individually with demonstrators, but did not address the crowd as a whole.
Demonstrators initially gathered outside the residence early Thursday, hours after Philando Castile was killed during a traffic stop.
As the crowd thinned Thursday night, demonstrators marched from the mansion to the place where Castile was shot, blocking traffic at several intersections along the way. About 50 marchers headed back to the governor’s residence overnight.
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4:20 a.m.
Minnesota’s governor says a suburban police officer probably wouldn’t have shot a black motorist dead if the driver had been white.
Gov. Mark Dayton’s strong words about this week’s killing of Philando Castile threw him straight into a suddenly reignited debate about how police treat people of color.
Dayton all but called Castile’s death in a St. Paul suburb an act of racism. He told protesters gathered outside his residence all day and night that no one should die over a traffic stop.
Hours after Dayton’s remarks, gunmen shot and killed five police officers and wounded six more amid protests in Dallas over Castile’s killing and a second fatal police shooting of a black man.
[Source:- Tulsa World]
