Hundreds gather to mourn Alton Sterling at funeral
BATON ROUGE, La. — Hundreds gathered Friday at Southern University for the funeral of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old man shot and killed by a Baton Rouge police officer last week.
The July 5 shooting, recorded on two cellphones and shared on the Internet showing two white officers who had pinned down Sterling, sparked protests here. Coupled with the July 6 shooting death of a Minnesota man pulled over for a broken tail light whose death was recorded by his girlfriend, the killings sparked protests in several major cities around the country.
The service, which was open to the public, had several notable speakers, including Baton Rouge Councilwoman Chauna Banks Daniel; Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La.; and the Rev. Al Sharpton, one of several civil-rights activists in attendance.
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. However, several of the speeches had political undertones.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson said the country had three sites of crucifixion last week including Dallas, where five police officers died July 7 after an ambush at a Black Lives Matter protest.
Banks Daniel encouraged those who were angry to take out their frustrations at the ballot box.
"If you don't register to vote, don't protest," she said.
Richmond spoke to the concerns of Black Lives Matter activists.
"We need to change the mentality of shoot first and ask questions later," he said.
Heavy storms rolled through the area, but they didn't seem to stop a few thousand people from attending the visitation and funeral at Southern University, a historically black college founded in 1880. Many held signs or wore T-shirts with messages of support for Sterling's family and the black community.
Among the mourners was Darrell Jupiter, a landscaper and close friend of Sterling who came to the visitation inside the basketball arena.
"I just got my appetite back," said Jupiter, who had a tattoo on his arm with the words "RIP Alton." ''My best friend is gone. I have a big chunk missing. I'm lost."
He said he spent lots of time fishing and playing chess with Sterling, whose nickname was "Dweeb."
Sterling had begun to turn his CD selling into a steady way of making a living, Jupiter said. Sterling had set aside enough money to buy himself a car.
As the service drew to a close, many did not know about other news that was happening across town. District Attorney Hillar Moore of East Baton Rouge Parish, who earlier this week recused himself from Sterling's case, said his officer won't be prosecuting more than half of the nearly 200 protesters arrested since the Dallas shooting.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana had filed a lawsuit earlier this week over police treatment of protesters.
Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow The Daily Advertiser on Twitter: @theadvertiser