FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. -- Minnesota police may have stopped Philando Castile because they thought he resembled a robbery suspect with his “wide-set nose,” according to audio from police dispatch obtained by ABC news.
Castile was shot multiple times while in his car around 9 p.m. on July 6 in Falcon Heights. His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her 4-year-old daughter were also in the vehicle at the time.
Reynolds live-streamed a video on Facebook with her phone following the shooting. The video showed Castile covered in blood in the moments leading up to his death. In the video, Reynolds said Castile was pulled over for having a broken tail light.
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Jeronimo Yanez and Joseph Kauser were identified as the two St. Anthony police officers involved in the shooting; Yanez is the officer who shot Castile. They have been placed on administrative leave.
In the police dispatch audio, obtained Monday by ABC News, one of the officers said he is going to pull the car over to check identification and that he has “reason to pull it over."
The officer said Reynolds and Castile looked similar to individuals involved in a robbery.
"The driver looks more like one of our suspects, just 'cause of the wide-set nose," the officer said in the dispatch audio.
In a recent interview with ABC News, Tom Kelly, Yanez’s attorney said he had reason to pull Castile over and reason to use deadly force.
"There was more than one reason to stop the car. There was more than the reason that the brake light was cracked," Kelly said. "This incident had nothing to do with race and everything to do with the presence of a gun."
But Reynolds told ABC News Monday that her boyfriend’s gun never posed a threat to the officers.
"(Castile) was never even asked was he armed or anything. We told him. He told him," Reynolds said.
Gregory Ford, a bystander, took a video of Castile’s car the night he was shot. Ford said in the video that Castile's tail lights were working.
St. Anthony police declined to comment on the audio.
