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Alton Sterling shooting: US authorities to investigate | |
(35 minutes later) | |
The US Justice Department's civil rights division will lead an investigation into a police shooting of a black man in Louisiana. | |
Video footage appeared to show two white police officers holding down and fatally shooting Alton Sterling, 37, in Baton Rouge. | |
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said the US attorney's office, the FBI and state police will also be involved. | |
"The video is disturbing to say the least," he said. | |
The governor called for unity and urged protesters to remain calm as authorities conduct an investigation the shooting. | |
The shooting on Tuesday sparked protests from about 200 people who gathered at the scene where Mr Sterling was shot, blocking roads and chanting: "Black lives matter". | |
Police spokesman Cpl L'Jean McKneely said the officers had been called in after reports that a man selling CDs outside a convenience store had threatened someone with a gun. | |
Mobile video footage appeared to show two officers wrestling a man in a red shirt to the floor. | |
One of the officers pinned the man's arm to the floor with his knee and then appeared to pull out his gun and point it at the man. | |
A voice is heard shouting: "He's got a gun. Gun." Then shots ring out and the camera moves away. | |
Mr Sterling, a father of five, died at the scene. | |
The incident comes amid mounting tension in the US over the deaths of black men at the hands of police. | |
There are more than 1,000 deadly shootings by police in the US each year, and disproportionate numbers of those killed are black Americans. |