Philando Castile

Philando Castile, 32, a St. Paul-area elementary school cafeteria supervisor, was shot and killed by St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota on July 6, 2016. Castile, who had a permit to carry, calmly informed Yanez he had a firearm in the car; Yanez fired seven shots, striking him five times, as Castile's girlfriend Diamond Reynolds and her 4-year-old daughter sat in the car. Reynolds began livestreaming the aftermath on Facebook within moments, and the video was viewed by millions. Yanez was charged with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of endangering Reynolds and her daughter; a jury acquitted him of all charges on June 16, 2017, after roughly 27 hours of deliberation. No one has ever been convicted in Castile's death.

Falcon Heights, MN · Ramsey County County

• 2016: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• The traffic stop, the seven shots fired, and Castile's death, per squad-car video and trial testimony.
• Castile informed Yanez he had a firearm and a permit to carry before Yanez opened fire, per the dashcam audio played at trial.
• Yanez was charged with second-degree manslaughter and two counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm; a 12-member jury (two Black, ten white) acquitted him of every charge on June 16, 2017.
• The City of St. Anthony announced it would dismiss Yanez from the police force the same day as the acquittal, offering him a voluntary separation rather than returning him to duty.
• The City of St. Anthony and surrounding jurisdictions reached a $3 million settlement with Castile's family in 2017; St. Anthony also later disbanded its police department entirely.

• Whether Castile was reaching for his wallet, as his family and prosecutors argued, or for his firearm despite officer commands, as Yanez testified, was never resolved beyond the jury's acquittal.
• Why the dashcam audio in which Castile calmly disclosed the firearm did not, in the jury's assessment, undercut Yanez's stated fear for his life has not been explained by the jury, whose deliberations are not public.
• Whether a substitute teaching license later granted to Yanez, which a Minnesota appeals court ordered reconsidered, was ultimately approved or denied has not been consistently reported.

• CNN — “Officer who shot Philando Castile found not guilty”
• NBC News — “Officer Who Shot Philando Castile Acquitted of Manslaughter Charges”
• MPR News — “The death of Philando Castile and the trial of Jeronimo Yanez”
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs