Doug Stanglin

USA TODAY

The Baton Rouge store owner who videotaped the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling says the 37-year-old black man was not holding a gun and was "murdered" by police who pinned him to the ground.

Abdullah Muflahi, owner of the Triple S Food Mart where the killing took place early Tuesday, said in interviews that the officers were on top of Sterling when they shot him.

"They had him pinned down," Muflahi told CNN. "He was out powered. There were two of them and there was one of him, and they were right on top of his chest."

Asked if Sterling appeared to be reaching for a gun, Muflahi said, "No, not at all."

In an interview with MSNBC, the store owner said flatly that Sterling was not holding a gun at the time of the shooting.

"I didn't see him reach for his gun, I didn't see him pull out a gun," he told MSNBC." The gun didn't become visible until the cops shot him and went into his pocket and pulled it out."

He said police shot him three times initially then, after a pause, three more times.

"I believe he was murdered," Muflahi told NBC News in a separate interview.

Muflahi's video shows an officer removing something from Sterling's pocket after the shooting, but it is not clear what it is. A law enforcement official said a gun was taken from him, the Associated Press reported. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Muflahi's video of the shooting was the second to surface since the ordeal unfolded. It was taken at close range and from head on, while the view of the scene in the first video — which sparked national attention to the killing — is farther away and partly blocked by a car.

The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division is investigating the killing, with the assistance of the FBI and state and local police. The DOJ will investigate whether the officers willfully violated Sterling’s civil rights through the use of unreasonable or excessive force. Similar investigations were opened after police-involved shootings in Ferguson, Mo., and the chokehold death of Eric Garner during his arrest in New York City.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, who announced the federal involvement, said he had "serious concerns" about Sterling's shooting, calling the initial video "disturbing, to say the least."

Edwards told reporters that the DOJ inquiry would be handled "impartially, professionally and thoroughly."

At a news conference Wednesday, Baton Rouge police chief Carl Dabadie called the fatal shooting a "horrible tragedy." He identified the officers involved as Blane Salamoni, a four-year member of the department and Howie Lake II, who has been on the force for three years. Both were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Local and state officials moved quickly to address the issue in an apparent effort to avoid violent protests that followed similar shootings in other cities.

Thousands of people turned out at the scene of the killing for a peaceful protest Wednesday evening beside a makeshift memorial that features a painted mural of Sterling.

"I'm angry and I'm mad because they took something from me that I will never ever get back," Sandra Augustas, the victim's aunt, told the crowd, WAFB-TV reported. "So y'all pray for me, but we've got to have peace and unity out here."

Protesters, many holding signs, stood shoulder to shoulder while passersby honked horns and cheered.

"Some people said we couldn't come out here without burning our own buildings, without flipping over cars, but this is not Ferguson. This is Baton Rouge, Louisiana," State Rep. Denise Marcelle told the demonstrators, WAFB reported.

According to census data, about 54% of the 229,000 residents of Baton Rouge, are black. More than 25% of the city lives in poverty.

Kristen George, a 25-year-old restaurant manager, came to the protest with her 2-year-old son Amazen and her wife and her 9-year-old son, the AP reported. George said she wanted to show her children the meaning of a civil rights protest.

In light of other police-involved shootings over the past two years, the Baton Rouge incident quickly became a national story.

"Mr. Sterling's death is horrific to witness and follows an increasingly long line of unjustified police shootings of civilians," said Sherillyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the LDF. "We send our sincere condolences to his family, and join the call for a transparent investigation of the shooting, including the release of any surveillance, dash-cam, or police body-worn camera video."

In a statement posted to Facebook on Thursday, Obama said that he views Sterling’s death as “symptomatic of the broader challenges within our criminal justice system, the racial disparities that appear across the system year after year, and the resulting lack of trust that exists between law enforcement and too many of the communities they serve.”

“We’ve seen such tragedies far too many times, and our hearts go out to the families and communities who’ve suffered such a painful loss,” Obama said.

In Washington, at a House hearing where FBI director James Comey was testifying, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., urged the director to views the video of the recent shootings.



“I hope you watched them,” Cummings said. “There’s something wrong with this picture. If you do nothing else ... you have got to help us get hold of this issue."

In a statement, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called the shooting a tragedy and said trust between police and the communities they serve needs to be rebuilt.

“Something is profoundly wrong when so many Americans have reason to believe that our country doesn’t consider them as precious as others because of the color of their skin,” Clinton said.