On the night of July 6, 2016, Philando Divall Castile, 32, was pulled over in Falcon Heights while driving with his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her young daughter. During the stop, Castile told the officer he had a firearm and that he was licensed to carry. The encounter escalated rapidly; officer Jeronimo Yanez fired seven shots at close range, striking Castile multiple times. Reynolds broadcast the immediate aftermath on Facebook from the car as Castile was rushed to Hennepin County Medical Center and later pronounced dead.

The shooting drew sustained national attention, protests, and scrutiny of the video evidence and witness accounts. In November 2016 Yanez was charged with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm. His 2017 trial focused on the split-second decisions during the traffic stop; on June 16, 2017, a jury acquitted him on all charges, and he was later fired from the St. Anthony Police Department. Does anyone have additional firsthand observations from that stretch of Larpenteur Avenue and Fry Street that night?