GoFundMe For Alton Sterling's Children Surpasses $610,000 In 2 Days
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- An online appeal to raise college funds for the five children of the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, man killed early Tuesday by police has surpassed $610,000 in two days.
The campaign, posted on the Gofundme.com website, raised contributions for the family of Alton Sterling from some 13,000 donors in an amount of close to $375,000 in its first 23 hours.
The fund now has more than 20,000 contributors and counting. The fund's overall goal was to raise $200,000 for the family.
The scholarship campaign was launched by actress-writer Issa Rae, who describes herself on the Gofundme page as "sympathetic and empathetic'' to the plight of the family that Sterling has left behind.
The U.S. Justice Department is investigating the video-recorded killing of the 37-year-old Sterling, a black man who police say had a gun as he wrestled with two white officers outside a Baton Rouge convenience store. He earned a living selling CDs outside the store.
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