A transcript released Tuesday by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) revealed that police officer Jeronimo Yanez told investigators the smell of marijuana from Philando Castile’s car was a major reason he considered the man a threat.
Yanez, who is Latino, shot Castile, who is black, five times during a July 6, 2016 traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minn. The shooting occurred seconds after Castile informed the officer he was carrying a gun.–Castile, a 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker, had a permit to carry the weapon.
Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her then-4-year-old-daughter were also in the car. The case sparked national outcry in part because Reynolds live-streamed the aftermath of the shooting on Facebook.
On Friday, a jury cleared Yanez of second-degree manslaughter and endangering safety by discharging a firearm in the shooting. On Tuesday, authorities released thousands of pages of investigative reports along with dashcam footage of the traffic stop and shooting.
Read more of this story, including the full transcript at TheCannabist.co