(Photo Credit: Mark Wallheiser/Getty Images)
No charges will be filed against police officers in the 2016 killing of Alton Sterling.
Lousiana Attorney General Jeff Landry held a press conference today to announce the decision against pressing charges against two officers who shot and killed Sterling after confronting him outside a convenience store in 2016 and pinning him to the ground.
Officers claim that he was reaching for a gun before shots were fired.
“This decision was not taken lightly,” Landry said. “We came to this conclusion after countless hours of reviewing the evidence.” After the investigation he said it was determined the actions taken were “well-founded and reasonable.”
Less than a year ago federal prosecutors determined that they would not file civil rights against the officers after claiming there was not enough evidence.
Sterling was known in the area to be a person who would sell CD’s and DVD’s outside of the convenience store he was shot in. A homeless man reportedly called the police department and reported that Sterling had showed him a gun after he asked for money.
Below is the press conference of the decision.