As ominous storm clouds rolled into the Baton Rouge area this morning, the city prepared itself for the official announcement of the U.S. Justice Department’s decision in the Alton Sterling case.
Though many have speculated for months that Baton Rouge Police officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II would not be charged with federal civil rights violations in Sterling’s July 2016 shooting death, that decision was apparently confirmed late Tuesday, when multiple sources inside the DOJ leaked to The Washington Post that no federal charges will be filed.
Early this morning, Gov. John Bel Edwards’ office received official confirmation that an announcement from the feds will come today. The local U.S. Attorney’s Office later announced that it will host a 1 p.m. press conference today to announce the status of the federal investigation. Officials from the DOJ and the FBI are also expected to attend.
Edwards and Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome will hold a joint press conference 30 minutes after the announcement at City Hall. Meanwhile, WBRZ-TV is reporting that DOJ officials are planning to meet with members of Sterling’s family at 11 a.m. The family had previously been told they would receive advance notice of the announcement. It is unclear why news of the decision was publicly leaked to the national media before Sterling’s family or local law enforcement officials were notified.
The DOJ’s long-awaited decision in the case has hung over the Capital Region ever since Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was fatally shot in July by Salamoni and Lake, who are white, outside a convenience store on North Foster Drive. Sterling’s death, as well as the deaths of other black men at the hands of police, sparked protests around the nation.
Around the Capital Region, businesses, schools and government agencies tried to go about business as usual amid a general uneasiness that was heightened by a severe weather watch that was expected to last for much of the day.
A lunchtime gathering of community leaders and organized by Together Baton Rouge is planned for noon. TBR lead organizer Broderick Bagert says the purpose of the gathering is to regroup and figure out how to move forward now that the long-awaited decision is finally upon the divided, fragile community.
“This is partly just to process what’s happened,” he says. “This is a little bit like a nine-month train wreck that has been moving very slowly and was anticipated, but the manner in which it happened was all a mess so we’re just trying to help people engage with each other.”
TBR will also call on Broome to demand that the DOJ release body camera video from the incident. That video is believed to have played a key role in the DOJ’s investigation, but it has never been seen publicly.
“Why and how long are we all going to be left to rumor monger and conjecture?” Bagert says. “It’s a public document. The mayor needs to demand the release of it.”
The meeting is scheduled for noon at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church, 3912 Gus Young Ave.
—Stephanie Riegel
