Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry announced Tuesday prosecutors will not bring criminal charges against the two Baton Rouge police officers who fatally shot Alton Sterling.
Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was shot by two white police officers in July 2016 outside a convenience store.
“This decision was not taken lightly,” Landry said in a news conference following a meeting with Sterling’s five children. “We came to this conclusion after countless hours of reviewing the evidence.”
The officers’ actions were “well-founded and reasonable,” he added.
The officers — Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II — were responding to a call that a man had threatened someone with a gun. Sterling was outside a convenience store selling CDs when the two officers encountered him.
They both wrestled him to the ground during the 90-second encounter. Salamoni was the one who ultimately fired his weapon.
The Department of Justice opened a civil rights investigation on July 7, 2016, and announced on May 2, 2017, it would not bring federal civil rights charges against the two officers.
Sterling’s death sparked a string of demonstrations across Louisiana — which took place a day after the shooting death of Philando Castile in Minnesota by a police officer — as well as other Black Lives Matter protests around the country.
