Police released body camera video that showed the officer repeatedly cursing at Sterling after the fatal shooting.

Arthur Reed / AP In this July 5, 2016 file photo taken from video footage, Alton Sterling is held by two Baton Rouge police officers, with one holding a handgun, outside a convenience store.

The Baton Rouge police officer who shot and killed Alton Sterling outside a convenience store in 2016, sparking nationwide protests, has been fired, officials announced Friday. "Our police officers are held to a higher standard, fear cannot be a driver for an officer's response to every incident. Unreasonable fear within an officer is dangerous," Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul said. "Policing isn't easy." Blane Salamoni was one of two officers who struggled with Sterling on July 5, 2016, firing six shots that proved fatal and sparked a series of protests throughout the Baton Rouge area.

The decision to fire Salamoni was made after conducting interviews with witnesses and reviewing multiple videos of the deadly shooting, which the recently installed chief of police described as "shocking to the conscience." Two of those body camera videos released Friday show the encounter between Sterling and the two officers quickly escalating in front of a convenience store. Just seconds after walking to the scene, Salamoni is seen pulling his handgun. "Don't fucking move or I'll shoot your fucking ass, bitch!" Salamoni says in the video, his handgun pointed at Sterling's head. After the shooting, Salamoni is heard repeatedly saying, in Sterling's direction, "Stupid mother fucker."



Baton Rouge PD Police body camera video of Alton Sterling death. (Warning: Graphic video.)

Attorneys for Sterling's family said the footage released Friday showed how Salamoni immediately escalated the situation and was out of control. "Blane Salamoni came out like a pit bull," attorney Chris Stewart told reporters. During an administrative hearing on Thursday, Paul said Salamoni refused to answer any questions regarding his actions during the deadly encounter. His firing, Paul said, was based on his violation of the department's use of force policies. The other officer involved in the altercation, Howie Lake II, was suspended for three days. "These actions were not minor deviations from policy as they contributed to the outcome that resulted in the death of another human being," Paul said. However, the family believes both officers should have lost their jobs. Their attorneys said that while Salamoni threatened and ultimately took Sterling's life, Lake stood by and let it happen. "The tragedy is that this happens all the time," attorney Michael Adams said. The officers were responding to a 911 call about a man brandishing a gun and threatening someone in the parking lot of the Triple S Food Mart. When they arrived, they found Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, who had been selling CDs in the parking lot. According to the Justice Department, which reviewed the shooting, the officers ordered Sterling to put his hands on the hood of a car. He initially refused and a struggle ensued, at which point Salamoni drew his gun and pointed it at Sterling's head. Sterling then placed his hands on the hood of the car. When he tried to move his hands, the other officer, Lake, used a taser. In the newly released video, Sterling can be heard asking several times what he did wrong. "I'm saying, what I did?" he says as the two officers yell at him to put his hands on the car. "Put your hands on the car or I'mma shoot you in yo fucking head, you understand me?" Salamoni responds while aiming a gun at Sterling's head. "Don't you fucking move or I'mma shoot you in your fucking head, you hear me."

"Tase his ass," Salamoni then tells Lake. Eventually all three men ended up struggling on the ground. In video of the altercation captured by a bystander, the two officers can be seen pinning Sterling, and one is heard yelling, "he's got a gun." Seconds later, a series of shots ring out.