The man whose company created Facebook Live said on Facebook he was troubled by what happened in the viral video taken by Philando Castile’s girlfriend just after he was fatally shot by a police officer in Minnesota.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg didn’t tout his new live-streaming video service in his three-paragraph post on Thursday, or say outright that his technology allowed for the world to see a graphic account of what has become a disturbing national trend: Black men getting killed by police.
In this case, the black man, a 32-year-old cafeteria worker, was pulled over Wednesday for a broken tail light and then was shot to death by St. Anthony, Minn. Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez as he was reaching for his wallet, as his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, said in the live video. Castile also had a license to carry a concealed weapon, which his girlfriend said Castile also specificallly told the officer before he started reaching into his pocket.
Zuckerberg simply stated his grief and worry about what's being going on across the United States.
“My heart goes out to the Castile family and all the other families who have experienced this kind of tragedy. My thoughts are also with all members of the Facebook community who are deeply troubled by these events,” he posted. His post, as of Friday morning, had been shared, more than 14,000 times, and received more than 200,000 comments.
The first person to comment, Edward Craig, praised Zuckerberg and the Menlo Park-based social media giant for allowing citizens to document history, good or bad, for all to see.
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“Your Facebook platform is not just changing the entertainment world," he wrote, "but it's dramatically improving peoples' sense of themselves and their relationship to power. Mark, you've done good, kid. Thank you for giving the marginalized a voice. It was a serious history altering day, thanks to Facebook.”
