Violence erupts amid conflicting stories on black man’s killing

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina —The violence broke out amid questions about what happened on Tuesday afternoon when 43year-old Keith Lamont Scott was shot and killed in the parking lot of his condominium complex.

Police did not release dashboard or body camera footage, but said Scott had a gun and the black man refused several orders to drop his weapon.

Scott’s family and neighbors said he was holding a book.

“He got out of his car, he walked back to comply, and all his compliance did was get him murdered,” said Taheshia Williams, whose balcony overlooks the shady parking spot where Scott was on Tuesday afternoon.

She said Scott often waited there for his son because a bicy- cle accident several years ago left him stuttering and susceptible to seizures if he stayed out in the hot sun too long.

Cop chief angered

The Charlotte police chief, Kerr Putney, was angered by the stories on social media, especially a profanity-laced, hourlong video on Facebook, where a woman identifying herself as Scott’s daughter screamed “My daddy is dead!” at officers at the shooting scene and repeating that he was only holding a book.

Putney was adamant that Scott posed a threat, even if he didn’t point his weapon at officers, and said a gun was found next to the dead man. “I can tell you we did not find a book,” the chief said.

Not long after the Facebook video was posted on Tuesday night, the first night of destructive protests began near the shooting scene.

Dozens of demonstrators threw rocks at police and reporters, damaged squad cars, closed part of Interstate 85, and looted a stopped truck and set a fire. Authorities used tear gas to break up the protests.