CHARLOTTE POLICE APPEAL FOR CALM
Violence erupts after shooting of black man
CHARLOTTE, N.C. • Authorities tried to quell public anger and correct what they characterized as false information Wednesday after a night of looting added Charlotte to the list of U.S. cities that have erupted in violence over the death of a black man at the hands of police.
With officials refusing to release video of the shooting of 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott, two different versions emerged. Police said Scott disregarded repeated demands to drop his gun, while neighbourhood residents said he was holding a book, not a weapon, as he waited for his son to get off a school bus.
As Charlotte’s white mayor and black police chief appealed for calm, AfricanAmerican leaders reminded people of other shootings and abuses of black men.
John Barnett, who runs a civil-rights group called True Healing Under God, or THUG, said the video might be the only way for the police to regain the community’s trust. “Just telling us this is still under investigation is not good enough for the windows of the Walmart.”
On Tuesday night, a protest near the apartment complex where the shooting took place turned violent. Dozens of demonstrators threw rocks at police, damaged squad cars, closed part of Interstate 85, and looted and set a stopped truck ablaze. Sixteen officers suffered minor injuries. One person was arrested.
The violence broke out shortly after a woman who appeared to be Scott’s daughter posted a profanitylaced hour-long video on Facebook, saying her father had an unspecified disability and was unarmed.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said Wednesday it was “time to change the narrative.”
“I can tell you from the facts that the story’s a little bit different as to how it has been portrayed so far, especially through social media,” Putney said.
The police chief said officers were serving arrest warrants on another person when they saw Scott get out of a vehicle with a handgun. A black plain clothes officer in a vest emblazoned “Police” shot Scott after the officer and other uniformed members of the force made “loud, clear” demands that he drop the gun.
Putney said a gun was found next to the dead man. “I can tell you we did not find a book,” he said.
Neighbours, though, said the officer who fired was white and that Scott had his hands in the air.
The plain clothes officer, identified as Brently Vinson, a two-year member of the department, has been placed on leave, standard procedure in such cases.
Scott’s mother described her son as a family man.
“And he was a likable person. And he loved his wife and his children,” Vernita Walker said.