Woman films dying boyfriend on Facebook after he was shot by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota

POLICE shot Diamond Reynolds’ boyfriend during a routine traffic stop. Moments later, he bled to death. WARNING: Distressing.

Lavish Reynolds, who lifestreamed the aftermath of her boyfriend, Philando Castile being shot by a police officer in Minnesota. Picture: Twitter.

WARNING: This story contains content which may be distressing for some readers.

AN “appalled” Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has said that police wouldn’t have shot and killed Philando Castile if he’d been white and called for justice “with the greatest sense of time urgency.”

Castile, who would have turned 33 today, was killed on Wednesday during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, a suburb of Minnesota.

His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, recorded the aftermath of the incident on live video. She said Castile was shot five times as he sat at the steering wheel reaching into his back pocket for his ID.

“Would this have happened if the driver and the passengers had been white?” Gov. Dayton asked. “I don’t think so.”

“I can’t say how shocked I am and deeply, deeply offended that this would happen to somebody in Minnesota,” Dayton said grimly. “No one should be shot in Minnesota for a taillight being out of function. No one should be killed in Minnesota while seated in their car.”

Ms Reynolds has called on the community to come together as she was flanked by a crowd of supporters brandishing Black Lives Matter placards.

She told the growing crowd that her boyfriend “didn’t have any last words. His eyes rolled in the back of his head.

“The police did this to us. The police killed him in front of my daughter. The police did this to me. They took an innocent man away from us,” she said.

Diamond Reynolds, holding her daughter, speaks to a crowd outside the Governor's Mansion in St. Paul, Minnesota. Picture: Getty

In the Facebook video, a woman identified as Ms Reynolds can be seen with her boyfriend, Philando Castile. The couple were pulled over by police for having a brake light that was out.

She alleged a police officer in Falcon Heights, Minneapolis, had asked Castile, 32, to show him his driver’s licence before he fired four shots while he was trying to get it from his wallet.

While still recording the moment as it unfolded, Reynolds moved her phone camera to show Castile after the shots were fired. He had blood on his shirt as the police officer was still pointing his gun at them.

Reynolds told viewers Castile was licenced to carry a firearm as he was looking for his licence.

“And the officer just shot him in his arm,” Reynolds told viewers.

The police officer can be heard saying: “Ma’am, keep your hands where they are,” and Reynolds agrees.

Breaking News in Minnesota. Family pulled over and officer open fires on driver for reaching for his license. pic.twitter.com/qu6WUKRrR8

— MarQuis Trill (@6BillionPeople) July 7, 2016

The police officer can be heard shouting “F***!”

“I told him not to reach for it!” he adds. “I told him to get his hand open.”

Reynolds replies saying: “You told him to get his ID, sir, you told him to get his driver’s licence.”

In shock from the situation, Reynolds is then heard saying: “Oh god, don’t tell me he’s dead. Please don’t tell me my boyfriend just went like that ... please don’t tell me that he’s gone.”

“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 said.

Philando Castile in the car with Lavish Reynolds. Picture: Twitter

She repeats: “He was just getting his licence and registration, sir.”

When police back up arrives, more police officers ask Reynolds to get out of the car and walk backwards.

When asked if they have a daughter, after a girl can be heard crying in the distance. It was her four-year-old daughter.

They tell her to get on her knees and she is handcuffed.

He phone appears to have been dropped on the ground, as viewers can only see the blue sky above.

“They threw my phone, Facebook,” Reynolds said.

Philando Castile's mom Valerie: "He lived by the law & died by the law." #FalconHeights pic.twitter.com/sgs7bdYFlG

— Jennifer Mayerle (@jennifermayerle) July 7, 2016

Castile’s mother, Valerie, also said that she didn’t get to see her son before he died, because officers forced her to stay behind police lines.

“I didn’t want my son to die alone,” Valier told CNN. “I didn’t want to talk to anyone — I just wanted to get to my son.”

The White House has said President Barack Obama is “deeply disturbed” by reports of the police shootings.

In a statement, St Anthony Police Department confirmed that a St. Anthony Police Officer asked the couple to make 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,” they said.

“No one else was injured and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (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’s mother, Valerie Castile, confirmed to CBS Minnesota that her son had died at Hennepin County Medical Center.

Castile was a school cafeteria worker, and a Facebook page set up by supporters, Justice for Philando Castile, said: “Philando Castile was murdered by police on 7/6/2016. We demand justice!”

While Reynolds’ Facebook lifestream was taken down, the video was circulated across social media. The video has had more than 1.7 million views and comes a day after a video emerged of a similar incident in Louisiana, where the shooting death of black man Alton Sterling was also captured on video. Sterling, a black father of five was shot at point-blank range, in an incident being probed by federal investigators.