New police audio reveals police officer thought Philando Castile was ROBBERY suspect

According to new police scanner audio from the night of the traffic stop, the police officer who pulled Philando Castile over thought he looked like a robbery suspect:

TWIN CITIES – The attorney for the St. Anthony police officer who fatally shot Philando Castile during a traffic stop last week said his client pulled him over because the vehicle he was driving had a broken tail light and because Castile looked like a suspect in a recent nearby armed robbery.

The disclosure offered new insight into what transpired before the July 6 death. Thomas Kelly also said over the weekend that officer Jeronimo Yanez was reacting to a gun Castile reportedly displayed during the traffic stop, and not Castile’s race, when he opened fire on the black St. Paul man.

“This is absolutely nothing to do with race and everything to do with the presence of a gun,” Kelly said Monday. “I am hoping we will be able to comment more fully in the next couple days.”

Kelly’s statement about the armed robbery matches what is overheard in audio clips of police radio traffic obtained by the Pioneer Press from a scanner listener.

“I’m going to stop a car. … I’m going to check IDs. I have a reason to pull them over. The two occupants just look like people that were involved in a robbery,” the officer is overheard saying in the recording. “The driver looks like one of our suspects just (because) of a wide-set nose.”

Shortly after, the officer is heard yelling, “Shots fired, Larpenteur and Fry.”

The exchange that follows includes the person telling what sounds like a dispatcher that “one adult female has been taken into custody,” and the driver is “at gunpoint.”

Whatever exactly happened between the officer and Castile, it’s pretty clear by the tone of his voice that he was very upset by what had transpired. He’s so upset in fact I could barely understand him.

That doesn’t mean he’s innocent. As always, we’ll wait for the facts instead of jumping to conclusions.


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