# Philando Castile *Minnesota school nutrition supervisor fatally shot by a St. Anthony police officer during a 2016 traffic stop in Falcon Heights.* Philando Castile (July 16, 1983 – July 6, 2016) was a nutrition services supervisor with the Saint Paul Public School District. He was shot and killed on July 6, 2016, by [[Jeronimo Yanez]], an officer of the St. Anthony Police Department, during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, [[Minnesota]].[^1][^2] Castile had told the officer that he had a firearm, which he was licensed to carry. His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, livestreamed the aftermath on Facebook from the car.[^2] The [[Bureau of Criminal Apprehension]] led the investigation. On November 16, 2016, [[Ramsey County Attorney]] [[John Choi]] charged Yanez with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm.[^3][^4] On June 16, 2017, after five days of deliberation, a jury acquitted Yanez on all counts. The [[City of St. Anthony]] fired him after the verdict. The city settled the wrongful death claims brought by Reynolds and by Castile's family for a total of $3.8 million.[^2][^4] The one incident thus produced opposite outputs in two forums. The criminal prosecution ended in acquittal, and the civil claims ended in a payment.[^4] ## Who Castile was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and lived with his family in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. He graduated from Saint Paul Central High School in 2001 and joined the Saint Paul Public School District in 2002. He first worked as a nutrition services assistant at Chelsea Heights Elementary School and Arlington High School. In August 2014 he was promoted to nutrition services supervisor at J. J. Hill Montessori Magnet School.[^5] Yanez was 28 at the time of the shooting and lived in South St. Paul. He and his partner, Joseph Kauser, had each served four years with the St. Anthony Police Department. Both had graduated in 2010 from the police academy at Minnesota State University, [[Mankato]].[^5] The department had 23 officers. Eight of those positions were funded through policing contracts with Lauderdale and Falcon Heights. Interim police chief Jon Mangseth told reporters at the scene that it was the department's first officer-involved shooting in at least thirty years.[^5] ## What According to the dashcam account, Yanez asked for Castile's license and proof of insurance, and Castile handed over his insurance card. Castile then told the officer, "Sir, I have to tell you that I do have a firearm on me."[^6] Yanez answered, "Don't reach for it then," and twice told him not to pull it out. Castile said he was not pulling it out. Yanez then fired seven shots at close range.[^2] The Hennepin County [[medical examiner]] ruled the death a homicide caused by multiple gunshot wounds.[^7] Castile's funeral was held on July 14, 2016, at the Cathedral of Saint Paul. Thousands of mourners attended.[^7] In announcing the charges, Choi stated the legal standard his office applied: "Unreasonable fear cannot justify the use of deadly force."[^3] The jury's output on that charge was acquittal on all counts.[^3][^4] ## When - July 6, 2016, about 9:05 p.m. CDT: the stop on Larpenteur Avenue at Fry Street.[^6] The shooting followed, and Castile died at 9:37 p.m.[^1][^7] - July 7, 2016: the St. Anthony Police Department identified Yanez as the officer who fired. Yanez and Kauser were placed on paid administrative leave.[^3] - July 8, 2016: Choi called for a "prompt and thorough" investigation.[^3] - September 28, 2016: the BCA completed its investigation and turned its findings over to Choi.[^3] - November 16, 2016: charges filed in Ramsey County District Court, case 62-CR-16-8110.[^4] - June 16, 2017: jury acquittal on all counts.[^4] ## Where The stop took place on Larpenteur Avenue at Fry Street in Falcon Heights, a suburb of Saint Paul, just outside the Minnesota state fairgrounds.[^6] Castile died in the emergency department of Hennepin County Medical Center.[^7] ## Why The stated grounds for the stop were disputed from the start.[^8] Before the stop, an officer radioed that "The two occupants just look like people that were involved in a robbery."[^6] Yanez's attorney, Thomas Kelly, said the stop rested partly on Castile's resemblance to a suspect in an armed robbery four days earlier and partly on a broken taillight.[^8] Kelly also said his client "reacted to the presence of that gun and the display of that gun."[^8] A Castile family attorney, Albert Goins, questioned that account. He said that if Yanez had believed Castile was a robbery suspect, procedure called for a felony traffic stop rather than an ordinary document check.[^8] The record here does not establish the officer's reasons beyond these stated accounts. ## How According to the dashcam video, 40 seconds passed between the moment Yanez began speaking with Castile and the first shot.[^6] St. Anthony officers did not wear body cameras. The BCA collected squad-car video and several other recordings.[^3] Choi reviewed the evidence with help from the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], the U.S. Attorney's office, a retired deputy police chief from Irvine, California, and a former federal prosecutor.[^3] ## How much - $3.8 million: total settlement of the wrongful death claims against the City of St. Anthony.[^2][^4] - Part of the settlement funds the Philando Castile Relief Foundation, which pays school lunch debt.[^9] In April 2019 the foundation gave $8,000 to clear the lunch debt of all seniors at Robbinsdale Cooper High School. It had earlier given $10,000 to J. J. Hill Montessori Magnet School.[^9] - $5,000: the inaugural Philando Castile Memorial Scholarship at St. Paul Central High School, awarded in 2017.[^9] ## How many - Before the shooting, police had stopped Castile at least 49 times in 13 years for minor traffic and equipment violations. Most of those violations were dismissed.[^5] - Yanez fired seven shots, and five struck Castile.[^2] - Yanez faced three counts and was acquitted on all three.[^3][^4] - 103 seconds elapsed between the end of the pre-stop dispatch audio and the start of Reynolds's recording. What happened in that interval was contested.[^8] ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue record pairs the Ramsey County charge of November 16, 2016, with the June 16, 2017 acquittal and the $3.8 million civil settlement. It treats the case as one incident with opposite outputs: the criminal instrument produced an acquittal, and the civil instrument produced a payment.[^4] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who Choi has been Ramsey County Attorney since January 2011.[^4] His office brought the charges against Yanez.[^3] ### When According to the project's Time Table, the [[Minnesota Department of Human Rights]] filed a civil rights charge against the [[City of Minneapolis]] over the Minneapolis Police Department in July 2020. That charge produced a [[consent decree]] in 2023.[^10] The same rows record no comparable Department action after the 2016 Castile killing, which involved a St. Anthony officer rather than a Minneapolis one.[^10] On January 14, 2026, the [[United States Department of Justice]] issued release No. 26-21, titled *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*. In it, Attorney General Pamela Bondi certified the case as a matter of general public importance.[^11] The record assembled here does not connect that suit to the Castile case. ## Notes [^1]: U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Minnesota, *Officer-Involved Shooting: Philando Castile* (date not given in pack) — federal record of the July 6, 2016 shooting. https://www.justice.gov/usao-mn/pr/officer-involved-shooting-philando-castile [^2]: Wikipedia, *Killing of Philando Castile* (rev. 1381706565, retrieved 2026-10-27), lead — stop, firearm disclosure, exchange of words, seven shots and five hits, livestream, verdict, firing, $3.8 million settlement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Philando_Castile [^3]: Wikipedia, *Killing of Philando Castile* (rev. 1381706565), "Investigation and prosecution" — BCA lead role, leave, Choi statements, September 28, 2016 handoff, body cameras, review team, charges. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Philando_Castile [^4]: Warren E. Burger dossier §VIII (validated) and at-issue pair AI-Ramsey-083 — Choi in office since January 2011; charge November 16, 2016, Ramsey County District Court 62-CR-16-8110; acquittal June 16, 2017; $3.8 million settlement. The pack carries no URL for the court file; the Wikipedia prosecution account is cited for the same sequence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Philando_Castile [^5]: Wikipedia, *Killing of Philando Castile* (rev. 1381706565), "Persons involved" — Castile's and Yanez's backgrounds, department size and contracts, the 49 prior stops. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Philando_Castile [^6]: Wikipedia, *Killing of Philando Castile* (rev. 1381706565), "Incident" — location, time, pre-stop radio, 40-second dashcam interval, Castile's statement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Philando_Castile [^7]: Wikipedia, *Killing of Philando Castile* (rev. 1381706565), "Death and funeral" — homicide ruling, time and place of death, July 14 funeral. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Philando_Castile [^8]: Wikipedia, *Killing of Philando Castile* (rev. 1381706565), "Reactions" — statements of Kelly and Goins, the 103 disputed seconds. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Philando_Castile [^9]: Wikipedia, *Killing of Philando Castile* (rev. 1381706565), "Legacy" — scholarship, Relief Foundation, 2019 and earlier gifts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Philando_Castile [^10]: Minnesota Department of Human Rights, *Press releases* (listing), as cited in project Time Table rows TL-0890 and TL-0902 — July 2020 charge against the City of Minneapolis; 2023 consent decree; the rows' record of no earlier action. https://mn.gov/mdhr/news-community/press-releases/ [^11]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*, release No. 26-21 (Jan. 14, 2026) — title; Attorney General's certification of general public importance. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-department-justice-files-lawsuit-against-minnesotas-affirmative-action-regime