Letter confirms Castile received permit to carry

A letter from a Minnesota sheriff’s department confirms a black driver who was killed by an officer last week had received his permit to carry a gun last year.

The letter to Philando Castile is dated June 4, 2015. It says his permit to carry is enclosed. His family has also confirmed he received the permit in June 2015.

The letter from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office says Castile must have the permit card and a form of photo identification while carrying a pistol, and must display the permit and ID when commanded by police.

Castile was killed last week during a traffic stop. His girlfriend was in the car and has said that Castile was shot after he told an officer he was armed and had a permit to carry, and was reaching for his ID.

Analysis: More African-American arrests

Data analyzed by The Associated Press shows that a suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, police department whose officer killed a black driver last week has been disproportionately arresting African-Americans.

The AP and other media requested arrest data from the St. Anthony Police Department after the death of Philando Castile. He was shot after being pulled over in nearby Falcon Heights in a killing that has fueled protests nationwide.

Just 7 percent of residents in St. Anthony and the neighboring towns its Police Department serves are black. But nearly half of those arrested in the first half of 2016 were black.

The data does not list details about individual arrests.

A 2001 study of 65 other Minnesota jurisdictions found officers stopped and searched minority drivers at greater rates than whites.

This story was originally published July 13, 2016 at 2:28 PM with the headline "Letter confirms Castile received permit to carry."