ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Attorneys defending the police officer accused of fatally shooting Philando Castile during a traffic stop in the Twin Cities metro argue in new court documents that Castile's gun was accessible and that he was reaching for it when he was shot.

The Star Tribune says the memo filed in Ramsey County District Court Tuesday contradicts claims by prosecutors that St. Anthony Officer Jeronimo Yanez never saw the weapon and later made conflicting statements about it.

Yanez is charged in Ramsey County with manslaughter and two other felonies in the fatal shooting of the 32-year-old school cafeteria employee, who was black, during a stop in Falcon Heights on July 6. Castile's girlfriend streamed the aftermath of the shooting live on Facebook.

The defense memo says the shots fire by Yanez, who is Latino, "were intentional and justified."

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