VIDEO: Fatal Police Shooting in Minnesota Sparks DOJ Investigation, Protests

A St. Paul, MN, man died Wednesday night after being shot by a police officer in Falcon Heights during a traffic stop. The immediate aftermath of the shooting was shown in a video recorded by the man's girlfriend as she sat next to him and which was widely shared on Facebook.

The girlfriend started the live-stream video with the man in the driver’s seat slumped next to her, his white T-shirt soaked with blood on the left side. In the video, taken with her phone, she says they were pulled over at Larpenteur Avenue and Fry Street for a broken taillight.

Friends at the scene identified the man as Philando Castile, 32, cafeteria supervisor at J.J. Hill Montessori School in St. Paul, the Star-Tribune reports.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said in a statement Thursday morning that he asked the White House to compel the U.S. Department of Justice to begin an independent federal investigation into the death of Castile, who would have turned 33 on Friday.

He added that the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has already begun "collecting all necessary evidence, and interviewing witnesses, to determine what happened, and to assure that justice in this case is served.”

The Justice Department said Thursday that it was aware of the incident and was "assessing the situation."

Castile died at the hospital following the incident around 9 p.m. local time Wednesday.

Crowds shouting "no justice, no peace" have remained outside the governor's mansion in protest to the incident, NBC News reports.