The devastated mother of a black man who was shot dead by a cop and whose death was live-streamed on Facebook by his girlfriend says she was prevented from seeing him on his deathbed.

Valerie Castile, mother of Philando Castile, 32, who was shot in Falcon Heights, Saint Paul, Minnesota on Wednesday night, also claimed they have been unable to locate Diamond Reynolds, his girlfriend, since she was arrested by police.

The shocking footage of the aftermath of the shooting has sparked protests in Saint Paul, with hundreds of people descending on the Governor of Minnesota's house demanding justice. It is the second controversial police shooting of a black man to emerge in 24 hours.

In the video, Reynolds tells viewers that she and Castile were pulled over for a busted tail light by a 'Chinese police officer'.

She claims the cop, from the St. Anthony Police Department in Falcon Heights, asked Castile, a cafeteria supervisor at a Montessori school in St Paul, to show his license, but then shot him four times while he reached for it.

As she talks, she moves the camera across to show Castile, bloody and losing consciousness, and the cop - still pointing his gun, as her young daughter sits in the back seat.

The police officer, who is yet to be identified, been placed on paid leave.

Aftermath: Reynolds (pictured) streamed the aftermath of a police shooting on Facebook Wednesday. She told viewers that she and her boyfriend, Philando Castile, were pulled over for a busted tail light by a cop who asked to see his license. As Castile was reaching for it, the police officer shot him four times, she says

Shot: Castile can be seen murmuring at the start of the video. According to Reynolds he told the cop he had a permit to carry a firearm when he reached for his license - but the cop shot anyway

Cop: The officer, audibly panicky and afraid, continues to point his gun at Castile, and at one point screams 'I told him not to reach for it!' Reynolds remains calm as she confronts him: 'You told him to get his ID, sir'

Castile (left) and Reynolds (right) before his tragic death. His mother, Valerie Castile, told WCCO TV her son 'lived by the law and died by the law' and he worked as a cafeteria supervisor at the J.J Hill Montessori School in St. Paul. Castile's Facebook page depicts a young man who was politically active and enjoyed partying

Crowds of protesters chanted outside the Governor's residence in Saint Paul at 3am demanding for him to 'wake up' and speak to them following the tragic shooting

Community members and Black Lives Matter activists brought the police tape from the scene of where Philando Castile was shot and killed by a St. Anthony Police officer in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, to Governor Mark Dayton's residence in Saint Paul

Outraged: Clarence Castile (left) and Valerie Castile (right), Philando's uncle and mother said they wanted to see justice and said the African American community was being 'hunted'

Missing: Despite being released by police around 2am, Valerie Castile claims that they have been unable to locate Diamond Reynolds; she also says she was unable to see her son on his deathbed

A crowd of around 200 protesters turned up outside Governor Mark Dayton's residence in Saint Paul at 3am demanding for him to 'wake up' and speak to them. They shouted 'no justice, no peace' and video shows them chanting Castile's name over and over in a moving show of unity.

A man outside the Governor's house said on Twitter: 'We're protesting at the governor's mansion. The police sent two delegates to make peace. They brought their guns.'

Rumors circulated that Governor Dayton had been evacuated from the mansion, but that was denied by his office, the New York Times reported.

However, he has postponed a press conference he was due to give on water quality today.

The protesters earlier formed at the scene where Castile was shot. The crowd was heard chanting 'we will stand our ground. We will not move' as an officer tried to clear the area, KARE-TV reported. Crowds also gathered outside the hospital where Castile died.

In the shocking video, Castile is at first still conscious and intermittently swearing, while his head lolls around. The officer keeps his gun trained on the man.

Reynolds says to her Facebook viewers that Castile, who had minor offences on his criminal record, was licensed to carry a weapon and told the officer he had a firearm as he reached for his wallet and ID.

'And the officer just shot him in his arm,' she says.

'Ma'am, keep your hands where they are,' the cop says, sounding panicked. He then appears to shout 'F***!'

'He just shot his arm off,' says Reynolds, maintaining her calm.

'I told him not to reach for it!' the cop screams, sounding close to tears. 'I told him to get his hand open.'

Unconscious: Castile apparently loses consciousness partway through the video. Police have confirmed that he died in hospital as a result of the gunshot wounds

Detained: Other officers arrive and tell Reynolds to exit the car and get on her knees. They cuff her and say she is being detained 'until we get this all sorted out' - only at this point does she begin to cry

Dropped: The phone is dropped shortly after this point, but the officer who allegedly shot Castile can seemingly be heard shouting 'F***' several times, while Reynolds, after giving her story, begins to pray to God

'You told him to get his ID, sir, you told him to get his driver's license,' she says. And suddenly the reality seems to hit her, as Castile appears to stop moving.

'Oh god, don't tell me he's dead,' she says. 'Please don't tell me my boyfriend just went like that... please don't tell me that he's gone.'

The cop tells her to keep her hands 'where they are, please' and she agrees, but then goes back to chanting about her boyfriend's possible death. 'Please don't tell me this Lord, please Jesus don't tell me that he's gone.'

'Please officer don't tell me that you just did this to him. You shot four bullets into him, sir,' she says, her voice finally beginning to crack with emotion. 'He was just getting his licence and registration, sir.'

At that moment, other officers are heard telling Reynolds to exit the car and walk backwards towards her. She asks if they have her daughter. In the distance a girl can be heard crying.

They tell her to get on her knees while they cuff her - 'Ma'am you're just being detained right now until we just get this all sorted out, okay?' says one of the new officers.

Handcuffed: Later, Reynolds is seen in the back of a cop car; she says she has been handcuffed, and that 'a Chinese police officer' shot her boyfriend

Daughter: Her four-year-old daughter is glimpsed a couple of times. Towards the end of the video, Reynolds begins screaming in anguish, and her daughter says 'It's okay. I'm right here with you'

Aftermath: The immediate moments after the shocking shooting were caught by at least one passerby, which shows police attending to a shot Castile at the side of the road

A tearful Valeria Castile told WCCO TV that her son (seen here together) was a hard worker. Family members have told how he was a straight-A student at high school

'They threw my phone, Facebook,' Reynolds says, before finally breaking down as another siren - possibly an ambulance - is heard. 'Please no,' she wails, 'Please don't let him be gone.'

Other videos shared on Twitter by one user show cops performing CPR on a prone figure - presumably Castile - and later putting up crime scene tape.

At this point in Reynolds's video, a man who sounds like the first officer can be heard shouting 'F***' at several points afterward, and Reynolds is heard in the distance telling cops how the cop 'started shooting.'

She then begins wailing about how Castile is a 'good man' who 'works for St Paul Public Schools... He’s never been in jail, anything. He’s not a gang member, anything.'

Scene of the shooting: Investigators photographed the car that Castile was shot in near Larpenteur Avenue and Fry Street in Falcon Heights

Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) investigators process the scene where a St. Anthony police officer shot and killed Castile as he was reaching for his license

A crowd of community members gather outside the Governor's Residence in Saint Paul with a 'black lives matter' sign

Lawyer Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the Minneapolis NAACP chapter, spoke outside the governor's house saying: 'We are tired of the laws... we are tired of the demonization of our black brothers and sisters'

Hundreds of people chanted Castile's name over and over in a moving show of unity while demanding that the governor of Minneapolis come out and explain what happened

What happened? A woman joins others gathered a the scene of the police shooting in Falcon Heights demanding answers

Angry demonstrators chant (left) as the block Summit Avenue at the governor's residence; A crowd gathers across the street from where the investigation into the shooting is carried out

Crowds gather in the middle of the night after the horrific video went viral on Facebook

Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) investigators process the scene

Women hold placards saying 'not in my name. No justice, no peace' and 'black lives matter'

Protesters outside the Governor's mansion hold their hands to their faces in shock

The yellow police crime scene tape was strung around the gates of the Governor's house in Saint Paul

The morning after: A sign is hung outside the Minnesota Governor's Residence this morning after about 200 people gathered outside it on Wednesday to protest

Not going anywhere: Protesters demand answers from the Minnesota governor, who canceled a press conference that was scheduled for Thursday

Reynolds then prays to God to protect Castile, saying: 'You know we're innocent, Lord. You know we're innocent people.'

Her daughter is heard telling an officer she wants to collect her mommy's purse.

Shortly afterward, the video cuts to Reynolds, sitting in a police cruiser - handcuffed, she says - with her daughter.

She repeats her story and begs anyone watching to come help her at the corner of Larpenteur Avenue and Fry Street.

The camera moves over to her daughter for a moment; the girl looks sad and confused.

'It was a Chinese police officer that shot him,' says Reynolds. 'He asked him for his license and registration, which was in the back of his pocket, because he keeps his wallet in his pocket.

'And as he went to reach, he let the officer know before he was reaching that he had a firearm on him, and before he can let the officer know anything, the officer took off shots. About four or five rounds was shot.

'And my boyfriend, I don't know what condition he's in, I don't know if he's okay or if he's not okay. I'm in the back seat of a police car, handcuffed... they got machine guns pointed.'

Finally, Reynolds - who has mostly kept it together throughout the incident - breaks down.

The incident is being investigated by Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, although there will likely be calls for the US Justice Department and the FBI to take over.

St Anthony Police Department told Dailymail.com that Reynolds had been released at approximately 2am (3am EDT). Despite this, Castile's mother said they were unable to locate her and the police wouldn't let them talk to her.

Castile is pictured here in a selfie that Reynolds shared on her Facebook page

The 32-year-old's Facebook page says that he attended to the University of Minnesota. Clarence Castile, Philando’s uncle, said his nephew had worked at the cafeteria for 12 to 15 years 'cooking for the little kids' and described him as a 'good kid'

Twitter user Wendy R shared this photo of Philando Castile at work as a cafeteria supervisor at the J.J Hill Montessorri School in St. Paul. He is said to have been much loved by the children at the school

'I f***ing-- I can't f***ing--' she stutters, before screaming.

'It's okay,' her daughter says. 'I'm right here with you.'

In a statement, St. Anthony Police Department said: 'On 07-06-2016 at approximately 2100 hours, a St. Anthony Police Officer effected a traffic stop on Larpenteur and Fry in the City of Falcon Heights, Minnesota.

'During the stop, shots were fired. One adult male was taken to the hospital. We have been informed that this individual is deceased.

'No one else was injured and the BCA has been called in to investigate this officer involved shooting. A handgun was recovered from the scene.

'The BCA will provide additional information as their investigation progresses.'

Castile was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center, according to The Star Tribune.

Sgt. Jon Mangseth, interim chief of St. Anthony Police Department told the paper that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has been called in to investigate.

The officer involved in the shooting had worked for the force 'in excess of five years', Sgt. Jon Mangseth said.

He has not been identified but Reynolds claimed he was a 'Chinese police officer' in the video.

At a 2am press conference, the police chief confirmed Castile was shot by the officer at 9pm.

A gun was recovered from the scene and has been sent for processing.

The video had received more than 1.5million views in the four hours after it went live - and attracted a stream of horrified and angry comments.

Castile's mother said : 'They killed my son. They took a good man, a hard-working man; he worked since he was 18 years old'

'Wtf man. F*** the police I swear this is bulls***,' said one. 'This is some f***ing BULLS*** I'm so tired of this s*** - the man isn't moving why do they have their guns pointed at him,' wrote another.

But many replied with messages of support and love for Reynolds - nicknamed 'Diamond' - and her family.

The video disappeared for around an hour after it was put up, causing angry accusations of censorship, but then returned with a 'graphic content' warning.

Reynolds's entire Facebook profile also went down for the duration before returning.

It's basically modern day lynching that we're seeing going on, except we're not getting hung by a tree anymore we're getting killed on camera Allysza Castile, Philando's sister

Castile's distraught mother said her son 'lived by the law and died by the law' and he worked as a cafeteria supervisor at the J.J Hill Montessorri School in St. Paul.

She tearfully told the Star Tribune outside hospital: 'They killed my son. They took a good man, a hard-working man; he worked since he was 18 years old.'

She later told CNN that they wouldn't let her see her son's body and that she had not even had the chance to identify him 'because they did not let me.'

She explained that she was first made aware of the incident when her daughter was watching it on Facebook.

‘My daughter was screaming in the house and I was like what's going on with you and the live stream was going. I personally didn't see it but I knew something was going on,' she said.

‘We rode up to the incident but we couldn't get to her to talk to her we were stopped by the police and I asked them where was my son at? I didn’t want to talk to anyone I just wanted to know where my son was because I didn't want my son to die alone

'First it was “I don't know” and then it was the sergeant that was there at the site he came back and told me that he was at Hennepin County Medical Center and I said “well why did you take him there? Why didn't you take him down to Regions hospital because I thought that was a little bit closer than Minneapolis."

Anger: Many commenters on the Facebook video were furious about what they saw. The video went down for a short period, but later returned with a 'graphic content' warning

A police man watches on as protesters gather outside the governor's house in the early hours

A large banner was strung up outside the governor's house read 'stop police brutality'

‘But by the time we got to Hennepin County Medical Center he was already deceased and they didn't let me see my son's body at all. I have not identified my son's body because they did not let me.'

She then added: I think he was just black in the wrong place. We are being hunted every day. It's a silent war against African American people as a whole. We are never free.'

A WEEK OF POLICE SHOOTINGS The shooting of Philando Castile took place just one day after police in Louisiana shot dead a black father of five at point-blank range, in an incident being probed by federal investigators. Horrific video footage showed Alton Sterling being thrown to the ground by cops. As Sterling continues to move on the ground, one officer reaches for his gun and then points it at the father-of-five's chest. Less than two seconds later, the first shot is heard, followed quickly by another two as the startled store owner turns the camera away from the gruesome scene. Three more shots are heard as the clip ends. On Sunday, another black man, 37-year-old Delrawn Small, was shot dead by an off-duty police officer in a road-rage incident. Officer Wayne Isaacs killed Small after a confrontation over a near-miss crash in Brooklyn. Small is said to have attacked Isaacs through his open driver's side window with 'big haymaker' punches before he was shot dead by the officer. Castile's shooting also comes on the eve of a closely watched trial in Baltimore on Thursday of an officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered a broken spine in the back of a police van. The 25-year-old man was arrested by the Baltimore Police Department for possessing what the police alleged was an illegal switchblade. Castile is reportedly one of 123 black Americans shot and killed by police in 2016 so far. Advertisement

Both of them said that ultimately they wanted 'justice'.

She said she had always taught her son to 'comply, comply, comply' if he was ever stopped by police.

'My son would never jeopardize his fiancee and the child by doing anything to provoke an officer.'

His sister Allysza Castile, 23, told the Washington Post: 'They won’t let us see him. We’ve been here probably an hour, the whole family is here, and they won’t let us see him.'

She also told WCCO: 'It's just like, we're animals. It's basically modern day lynching that we're seeing going on, except we're not getting hung by a tree anymore we're getting killed on camera. And these officers are being able to go home to their family on paid leave.'

Clarence Castile, Philando’s uncle, added his nephew had worked at the cafeteria for 12 to 15 years 'cooking for the little kids' and described him as a 'good kid'.

Of the cop who shot him, he said: 'That man is a destroyer. He's not an officer - he's a man.'

His family said he was a straight-A student at high school who graduated with honors.

The parent of a child at the school Castile worked at wrote on Facebook that he was a 'good man', in a message published by Twitter user Wendy R.

'Every day he fist bumped my kids, even when they were acting up. He knew every single one by name, pushed extra food in them like a grandma, and sneaked extra graham crackers into my son's bag because Peter got a kick out of it.

'My borderline autistic son hugged him every day. You guys. This was a GOOD MAN,' he said.

Castile's Facebook page depicts a young man who was politically active and enjoyed partying. He shared images of the Black Panther Party and posted the caption 'by any means necessary'.

He also posted that he went to the University of Minnesota and had worked at Target.

Lawyer Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the Minneapolis NAACP chapter, spoke outside the Governor's house in the early hours of Thursday morning.

'We are tired of the laws... we are tired of the demonization of our black brothers and sisters,' she said. 'Enough is enough.'

The shooting comes just days after another young black man was shot dead by police after they received a complaint about a man making threats with a gun while selling CDs outside a store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Horrific video footage showed Alton Sterling being thrown to the ground by cops Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II.

The cops are seen yelling at Sterling to 'get on the ground' before he is tackled by the officers.

Alton Sterling (pictured) was killed following a confrontation outside a Baton Rouge convenience store early Tuesday morning

As Sterling continues to move on the ground, the officer - believed to be Lake - reaches for his gun and then points it at the father-of-five's chest.

One of the officers then yells: 'He's got a gun! Gun! You f****** move and I swear to God.'

Less than two seconds later, the first shot is heard, followed quickly by another two as the startled store owner turns the camera away from the gruesome scene. Three more shots are heard as the clip ends.

As Sterling lies on the ground with blood seeping from his chest, one of the officers leans over and grabs what appears to be a gun from the street seller's pocket.

It is not clear whether Sterling was reaching for his gun, but he was not holding it at the time he was shot.

Police took CCTV footage from the store without the owner's permission, but said they would hand it over to investigators.

It also emerged that Lake has been suspended before, also following the shooting of a black man.

Sterling's death sparked protests, with thousands turning out to demand justice outside the store where he was shot.

Alton Sterling was shot dead when officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II slammed him to the floor. THey have been put on administrative leave as the Department of Justice stepped in to lead the investigation

On Wednesday, thousands of people protested long into the night following the shooting of Alton Sterling by two police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana