Keith Lamont Scott Shooting Video Released by Family
A video showing the moment Keith Lamont Scott was shot dead by a police officer in Charlotte, North Carolina, has been made public.
The moment was captured on video by Keith Lamont Scott’s wife, who can be heard pleading with officers: “Don’t shoot him!”
In the footage, Rakeyia Scott tells her husband to get out of his car as Charlotte police surround him.
The video does not show the actual shooting, or make clear if Keith Lamont Scott was carrying a gun, as police say.
Officers can be heard urging the black man to “drop the gun” but his wife is heard telling them he is unarmed.
On September 23, a few hundred protestors took to the streets, but the demonstrations was smaller than on the previous three nights.
They chanted “No justice, no peace” and “Release the video” – a call for the police to release their dash-cam and body-cam images of the incident.
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory has declared a state of emergency in the city, and a midnight curfew has been imposed for a second night running, after rioters looted businesses and threw objects at police on September 20 and 21.
Unnamed police sources told local media and CNN a gun found at the scene was loaded and had Keith Lamont Scott’s fingerprints and DNA on it. But the police have said nothing officially.
Charlotte city leaders have been under mounting pressure to release their footage of this week’s shooting.
Hillary Clinton joined the chorus, adding: “We must ensure justice and work to bridge divides.”
Her campaign team had said the Democratic presidential candidate would visit Charlotte on September 25, but later announced the visit was being postponed until October 2 after discussion with community leaders “as to not impact the city’s resources”.
In the clip, an officer is heard shouting: “Hands up!”
Image source Facebook
Keith Lamont Scott cries: “Don’t shoot him. Don’t shoot him. He has no weapon. He has no weapon. Don’t shoot him.”
An officer says: “Don’t shoot. Drop the gun. Drop the gun.”
Rakeyia Scott says: “He doesn’t have a gun. He has a TBI [Traumatic Brain Injury]. He just took his medicine.”
Family lawyers have previously said Keith Lamont Scott suffered head trauma in a car accident last year.
Seconds later shots ring out in the clip, and Keith Lamont Scott rushes forward shouting: “Did you shoot him? He better not be dead!”
Keith Lamont Scott – a 43-year-old father-of-seven – was fatally shot in an apartment complex car park on September 20 by police who were searching for another person wanted for arrest.
There are conflicting accounts of his death – police say Keith Lamont Scott was armed and that a pistol was recovered at the scene; his family says he was holding a book.
His mother, Vernita Scott Walker, told South Carolina broadcaster WCSC he was probably reading the Koran.
She said he read the Islamic holy book every day, often while waiting for his son to get off the bus.
“That’s what he was reading because he loved to read that book,” said Vernita Scott Walker.
At a press conference on September 23, officials defended their refusal to release body-cam and dash-cam video of the shooting.
Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts told reporters: “I do believe the video should be released – the question is on the timing.”
She said the video was “inconclusive” as to whether Keith Lamont Scott was holding a gun.
City Police Chief Kerr Putney said the video alone does not provide sufficient evidence of probable cause for the shooting.
Releasing it without “context” could only inflame the situation, he added.
Critics have accused Charlotte authorities of a lack of transparency, compared with the swift action taken after a police shooting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Officer Betty Shelby has been charged.
Charlotte police said they arrested a suspect in September 21 fatal shooting of a protester, Justin Carr, in the city.
The alleged gunman was identified as Rayquan Borum.