Mourners gather for funeral of black man killed by police

Reverend Al Sharpton and Reverend Jesse Jackson were among the many speakers at the service.

He said he sympathized with police but even so, he thinks Sterling’s killing was unjust, based on video footage of the incident he watched on television.

Police arrested a third suspect, a 13-year-old boy, on Monday while a fourth suspect remained at large.

Johnson chairs the My Brother’s Keeper task force.

Sterling’s family asked for the day to be a peaceful celebration of life, a family spokesman, Gary Chambers, said at the opening of the service.

Military officers told the former Baton Rouge resident that he looked like a wanted person for assault and battery.

Sterling’s death was recorded on cellphone video and shared across the internet. Orta, 24, claims he has been subject to persistent police mistreatment since Garner’s death, and recently entered pleas on multiple drug and weapons charges stemming from three separate arrests since August 2014. A funeral was to take place later in the morning.

Among the mourners was Darrell Jupiter, a landscaper and close friend of Sterling who came to the visitation inside the basketball arena.

“If you don’t register to vote, don’t protest”, she said.

Violence again hit Thursday evening, when a lone gunman shot and killed five police officers during a protest in Dallas against the deaths of Sterling and Castile.

His family has called for the officers to be prosecuted.

State and local law enforcement officials said during a news conference Tuesday that the stolen guns were part of a credible threat to harm police officers.

Twenty-year-old Malik Bridgewater is scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court on Friday. Authorities arrested about 200 people in Baton Rouge during the protests through last weekend, with demonstrators accusing the police of heavy-handed tactics.

Sharpton called for more accountability for police officers who kill African-Americans and reeled off a list of high-profile police shootings that have angered many in the black community: “We have an inferior judicial system that does not protect all of its citizens equally”.

Thousands attended the ceremony at Southern University. His death, along with another fatal police shooting in Minnesota last week, sparked widespread protests.

A public viewing is set to begin at 8 a.m. CDT at Southern University in Baton Rouge followed by a funeral.