Police Brutality / Individual record
Alton Sterling
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Alton Sterling in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2016-07-05 in Baton Rouge, LA. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-470
- Incident date
- July 5, 2016
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Baton Rouge, LA
- Agency
- Baton Rouge Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 37
What happened
Alton Sterling, 37, was killed by Baton Rouge police Officer Blane Salamoni on July 5, 2016, outside the Triple S Food Mart, where he was selling CDs. Officers Salamoni and Howie Lake II responded to a report that someone fitting Sterling's description had threatened a person with a gun. Their attempt to detain him escalated into a ground struggle, and Salamoni fired six rounds. Bystander video drew national attention. The Justice Department reviewed recordings, witnesses, forensic evidence and department policies but declined federal civil-rights charges in May 2017 because prosecutors could not establish the elements of a willful constitutional violation beyond a reasonable doubt. Salamoni was later fired for violating department policy, a separate administrative consequence. The family pursued civil remedies.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 1680
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- undetermined
- Flee status (source)
- not
- Agency IDs (source)
- 1098
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset