CNN’s Alisyn Camerota conducted a 22-minute live interview with the mother and uncle of Philando Castile, who was shot during a traffic stop last night in the Falcon Heights suburb of St. Paul, MN. The victim’s fiancée, Diamond Reynolds livestreamed the aftermath on Facebook. “Please don’t tell me he’s dead. Please don’t tell me this Lord,” she says calmly on the video, even as the police officer’s gun was still drawn.
Camerota’s interview ran uninterrupted in the 7 a.m. ET hour of New Day. Castile’s mother, Valerie Castile, has not watched the video, but his uncle has. “I seen a young man, helpless, shot for no apparent reason. I saw my nephew, clinging to his life, with no help. Blood everywhere. It was the most horrific thing I ever seen in my life,” he said.
“I appreciate Diamond streaming that video live, because we never would know exactly what happened,” said Valerie Castile.
The nearly 10-minute live video had more than 1 million views before it was pulled from Facebook for a time, and then returned with a “graphic content” warning. But several copies were captured and uploaded to YouTube.