US man dies after being shot by police, streams death live on Facebook

Tennessee: An unarmed man from New Orleans was shot fatally by a cop in Tennessee and the incident was streamed live by the victim on Facebook.

According to a report in CNN, the incident took place on Thursday afternoon when the cops approached Rodney James Hess’s SUV, which was parked along Highway 412 near the west Tennessee town of Alamo.

Hess went live on Facebook when the cops approached him and demanded, “I would like the higher commands to come out." The video showed that after a few seconds, a cop shot him through the windscreen of his car.

Hess died after being airlifted to a hospital in Memphis, about 80 miles southwest of Alamo.

His fiancée, Johnisha Provost, who watched Hess getting shot in the live video on Facebook, said that he was suffering from a mental illness which is why he wanted to talk to a higher command.

She recalled telling him, “Babe, if you are ever in a situation where you need help, ask the person in charge for the higher command to help you.” “And that’s what he kept saying”, she added.

But the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in Alamo, said that he was being difficult and tried hitting the police with his car twice before he was shot.

“He just suffered from mental illness and people need to be aware of how to deal with mental illness”, said Provost. She added that they could have shot the tyres to make him listen and that they didn’t have to kill him.

The case is currently being investigated and could be sent to the grand jury once the probe was concluded.