Charlotte police officer will not face charges in shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — No charges will be brought against Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer Brentley Vinson in the September shooting death of a man in University City, District Attorney Andrew Murray announced Wednesday.
Keith Lamont Scott, 43, was shot Sept. 20 in a confrontation with officers outside his apartment.
Murray said that evidence in the case shows that Scott stepped out of his SUV with a gun in his hand and ignored at least 10 commands from the five officers on the scene to drop it.
Murray said that Scott obtained the gun — which had been stolen in Gaston County — 18 days before the confrontation. One bullet was found in the chamber of the gun, the safety was off and Murray said Scott’s DNA was found on the grip and ammunition slide.
Murray said that speculation in the community that Scott was unarmed – initial reports from a family member on Facebook said he was holding a book — were untrue.
“A reading book was not found in the front or back seats of Mr. Scott’s SUV,” Murray said.
Officer Vinson’s gun was examined after the shooting and four bullets were missing, Murray said. Guns taken from the other officers at the scene had not been fired, he said.
People who claimed on social media that they had seen the shooting and Scott was unarmed were later found to be in error — three people who’d made the claim told State Bureau of Investigation agents in interviews that they hadn’t actually seen the shooting.
Murray said he ran the evidence in the case past 15 veteran prosecutors in his office and they were unanimous in their recommendation that there was insufficient evidence to charge Vinson in the case.
In the aftermath of Scott’s death, Charlotte was roiled by two nights of rioting and nearly a week of street demonstrations. After street violence, dozens of arrests and the death of one man, Gov. Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency.
CMPD was the original agency investigating Scott’s shooting, but the State Bureau of Investigation took over when his wife, Rakeyia Scott, exercised her right under N.C. law to have the independent agency do the inquiry.
Scott, father of seven, the son of a police detective and a former mall security officer, suffered from traumatic brain injury sustained during a motorcycle crash in South Carolina in November 2015.
Scott was a convicted felon who was sentenced in 2005 to seven years in Texas for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police were put on alert for the city’s reaction to the announcement.
All the department’s specialized units, including its riot squad, were mobilized. CMPD’s command center, which was used during the 2012 Democratic Convention and other high-profile events, also was activated.
Officers were notified that they may have to work 12-hour shifts.
District Attorney Andrew Murray met Wednesday morning with Scott’s wife, Rakeyia Scott, and Monnett.
Robert Taylor, a professor of criminology at the University of Texas at Dallas and a former police officer in Portland, Ore, said clearing Vinson of any criminal wrongdoing in the shooting was an easy call.
A person with a gun under those circumstances represents a danger to officers and the public, Taylor said.
“This is pretty cut and dry,” he said.
Taylor said CMPD likely intensified public outcry by initially refusing to release video footage that captured the confrontation. Given the outrage in recent years about police use of force, Taylor said, it remains baffling why CMPD didn’t make the video public sooner.
CMPD said at the time that it was holding off on releasing the video until the State Bureau of Investigation had interviewed all witnesses.
Now, he said, Charlotte leaders must try to rebuild the fractured relationship between the police department and the African-American community.
“I try to stay positive and remind people that before any great change in this country there has been conflict,” Taylor said.
“There are real feelings of fear in the African-American community. You have to build trust over a long period of time. You just can’t wait until something else happens ... The onus is on the police department to take a positive approach and look for what good can come out of this. Where do we go as a community?”