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Alton Sterling bought gun hours before he was shot dead by cops
BY EDGAR SANDOVAL MEG WAGNER
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Updated: Thursday, July 7, 2016, 2:00 PM
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Alton Sterling's Aunt: 'Baton Rouge Police Department Are Murderers'
NY Daily News
00:00 / 01:04
A friend of Alton Sterling says the Baton Rouge man bought a gun for protection only hours before he was shot to death by two white cops outside a convenience store.
“He didn’t have a gun before that,” barber Ronnie Harton, 50, told the Daily News. “He said he had to protect himself, because he had all this money on him. Around this area, you get robbed real quick.”
Sterling bought the weapon on Monday after hearing that another man selling CDs on the local streets was robbed. He died around 12:30 a.m. the next day.
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Alton Sterling was shot dead by police early Tuesday. (HANDOUT/REUTERS)
“He had a gun on him for a reason,” Harton said Thursday. “He just wanted to protect his business. He was a good guy, man.”
Alton Sterling's hands were empty when Baton Rouge cops shot him
President Obama, who reached out Wednesday to Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden, continued to monitor the investigation, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
Baton Rouge Police Officer Blane Salamoni was one of two officers placed on paid administrative leave following Alton Sterling's fatal shooting. It's unclear which officer fired at Sterling.
Baton Rouge Police Officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II were placed on paid administrative leave following the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling.
The president was “deeply disturbed” by the fatal shooting of the black man, he said. Sterling regularly sold CDs outside the Baton Rouge store.
The 911 call that sent Baton Rouge officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake to the Triple S Food Mart came from a homeless man reporting there was an armed man in the parking lot, according to CNN.