(CN) - The FBI has opened a civil rights investigation into the death of a black man shot dead by police as he sold homemade compact discs in front on a Baton Rouge convenience store Tuesday morning.
Authorities said Alton Sterling, 37, died of multiple gunshot wounds after an altercation with police. His death and a subsequent video that purported to show the shooting sparked protests.
By dawn Wednesday, protesters and friends had created a makeshift memorial to Sterling on the white folding tables and fold out chair he had used to sell homemade music compilations.
East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Dr. William Clark said an autopsy shows Sterling died Tuesday of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and back.
The head of the Baton Rouge NAACP in Louisiana has called for the police chief to be fired or resign in the wake of the fatal shooting of a black man during a confrontation at a convenience store.
Michael McClanahan said during a Wednesday morning news conference that Baton Rouge can't have a leader who "allows this type of action to take place."
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards saidthe cellphone video of the fatal police shooting of a black man in Baton Rouge is "disturbing to say the least."
Edwards said during a news conference on Wednesday that the U.S. Justice Department would investigate the shooting.
A short time later the Justice Department announced the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Louisiana will conduct the investigation.
"The Justice Department will collect all available facts and evidence and conduct a fair, thorough and impartial investigation. As this is an ongoing investigation we are not able to comment further at this time," a statement from the agency said. - Developing story.
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