Footage of fatal shooting released by US police
Yahoo on October 5, 2016, 1:26 pm
Charlotte Police have released footage of a fatal shooting two weeks after a young black man was shot dead - sparking a wave of protests.
Hundreds of North Carolina residents gathered in protest last week, demanding the footage of Keith Lamont Scott's death be made public.
Since his death on September 20, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police have maintained that Scott was in possession of a gun and that his fingerprints and DNA were found on the weapon.
Body camera footage was today released of the police shooting that killed Mr Scott
"You do hear officers make reference to a gun. You do not hear that it is in his hand or anything like that," family attorney Justin Bamberg told WCNC.
"This community deserves answers."
The body and dashboard camera footage was shown to Mr Scott’s relatives before it was released to the public, however the new 16-minute video sheds no new light on whether he was holding a weapon when he was shot.
Mr Scott's relatives were the first to see the footage after demanding it be released
Several hundred National Guard troops and highway police officers were deployed following the shooting, with protestors chanting, “release the video” repeatedly as they stormed through Charlotte streets.
"We are going to be a lot more proactive," he told a news conference. "We made 44 arrests last night because we are not going to tolerate the behavior,” Charlotte police chief Kerr Putney said.
The three-night long protests did however turn violent when 26-year-old Justin Carr was shot dead by police.
Mr Carr was killed and 44 people were arrested as the protests swept through downtown Charlotte late Wednesday and early Thursday.
Paramedics tended to the wounded Mr Scott on the scene.
President Barack Obama spoke with Governor Pat McCrory for an update on the situation, the White House said.
"The president believes strongly in the right of individuals to protest," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
"It is also important that people do not use public protest as an excuse to engage in violence or vandalism."
Scott's funeral had been scheduled for Thursday in James Island, South Carolina, though the funeral home's website said that it had been canceled because expected effects of Hurricane Matthew.
