Less than a week after rioters nearly burned the city of Charlotte to the ground in a fury of mob violence over the shooting death of Keith Scott, an African-American man with a criminal history, police have released a substantial amount of evidence pertaining to the shooting. Police released most of the material on Saturday, quieting a medley of voices complaining about the department’s supposed lack of transparency.
As television pundits on cable news networks continue to perpetuate the BLM myth that it’s open season on black men in America, it’s worth examining the concrete evidence at hand.
Here are 7 things the Charlotte Police just released about the Keith Scott shooting:
1. Police released dashcam footage detailing the shooting death of Keith Scott. Here it is:
The video begins by showing plainclothes officers with their guns drawn on Scott and his vehicle. Police are imploring him to listen to their commands as he sits in his white SUV. Soon after, another uniformed officer joins the scene. Someone is heard shouting “Drop the gun!” numerous times as Scott appears to exit his vehicle. Scott is then seen walking backward. Suddenly, there’s a series of gunshots directed at Scott. The police officer that fired the shots is not seen in the dashcam footage, although we know that an African-American policeman, Officer Brentley Vinson, fired the fatal shots. Here’s the police statement, released Saturday, confirming the video account: “Mr. Scott then exited the vehicle with the gun and backed away from the vehicle while continuing to ignore officers’ repeated loud verbal commands to drop the gun.”
2. Police released bodycam video of the incident as well. Here it is:
The police bodycam footage provides a different view of the incident. Again, the video doesn’t prove with absolute certainty whether the shooting was justified or not. In fact, there is no audio for the first 25 seconds and the fatal gunshots cannot be heard in the footage. The camera here was worn by a plainclothes police officer on the scene. From what we can see, officers appear to be surrounding Scott’s white SUV. Then the police officer wearing the body cam moves across the car where Scott is then seen lying on the ground. Five police officers are around him. One starts to provide medical treatment.
3. Police released a clear image of the gun Keith Scott allegedly pulled on police. The Scott family initially said that Keith Scott was holding a book in his hand, prompting hundreds of protesters to converge in Charlotte’s city center last week. The Scott family either didn’t know that Keith Scott had a gun or they were lying. Although North Carolina is an open carry state, Scott’s criminal record precludes the possibility of him purchasing the weapon legally.
BREAKING- CMPD just released this photo of the handgun #KeithScott was holding pic.twitter.com/7YXC8jpN6I
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) September 24, 2016
4. Police revealed that Scott’s fingerprints and DNA were on the gun, citing extensive lab analysis.
5. Police Chief Kerr Putney stated that police were on their way to serve a warrant for another criminal when they ran into Scott. Scott was in possession of marijuana, but the police officers ignored the illegal drugs. It was only when police discovered that Scott was in possession of illegal weapons that they decided to confront him. Officer Vinson, the policeman that fired the fatal shots, “observed Mr. Scott hold a gun up,” according to a police statement released Saturday. “Due to the combination of illegal drugs and the gun Mr. Scott had in his possession, officers decided to take enforcement action for public safety concerns,” the statement added.
“Mr. Scott then exited the vehicle with the gun and backed away from the vehicle while continuing to ignore officers’ repeated loud verbal commands to drop the gun.”
Police statement in Keith Scott case
6. Police initially attempted to pull Scott out of his white SUV and simply make an arrest, but Scott refused and resisted. An officer attempted to “breach the window” of Scott’s vehicle, said the police statement. Eventually, Scott exited the vehicle but entirely ignored the commands of officers demanding that he drop his weapon. The shooting officer perceived that there was an imminent threat to his life.
7. Police confirmed that the shooting officer was not wearing a body cam during the incident. In addition, police have withheld additional footage that they don’t feel is pertinent as to whether the shooting was justified or not.