Blane Salamoni is a four-year veteran officer for the Baton Rouge Police Department in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He graduated from Baton Rouge Catholic High School in 2006, and graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University in 2010. His wife is a local Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). His mother Melissa Salamoni is a retired police captain, and his father is a high-ranking member of the Baton Rouge Police Department’s command staff and was once a finalist for the city’s police chief job.

Shooting of Alton Sterling

Alton Sterling, a 37-year old man who sold CDs, was shot and killed by Baton Rouge Police officers Tuesday morning outside a convenience store on North Foster Drive after “some type of altercation” with officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II, officials said.

Around 12:35 a.m., Baton Rouge Police responded to the Triple S Food Mart at 2112 N. Foster Drive after an anonymous caller indicated that a man in a red shirt who was selling CDs outside the store pointed a gun at someone, telling them to leave the property, Baton Rouge Police Department spokesman Cpl. L’Jean McKneely said. East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner William “Beau” Clark said the initial results of an autopsy performed Tuesday show Sterling died due to a homicide and suffered multiple — meaning more than two — gunshot wounds to the chest and back.

Baton Rouge Police did not provide much information about what escalated the incident between the officers and Sterling or what prompted an officer to fire his weapon. A witness, however, described police as “aggressive” and said Sterling was armed but was not holding his gun or touching his pockets during the incident. Police later retrieved a gun from the man’s pocket, said the witness, shop owner Abdullah Muflahi.

In addition to the witness video, police said they have surveillance video from the convenience store and dash camera video from police vehicles.

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