Witnesses say that Sterling was armed, but that he was not holding or touching his gun during his interaction with police. Further, Louisiana is an open carry state. At the time of his shooting, his arm appeared to be restrained behind his back.

Laquan McDonald, though wielding a knife, was moving away from police officers when one of them fired 16 shots at him. Most of them after he was already on the ground.

Samuel Dubose was stopped by a University of Cincinnati police officer for a traffic violation. During the brief encounter he was shot in the head.