Following days of demonstrations, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department on Saturday released footage of the fatal shooting of 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott.
The release of dashboard camera and body camera footage came just one day after NBC released footage from Scott’s wife, Rakeyia Scott, of the fatal encounter last Tuesday.
Scott’s family has asserted that he was unarmed; police say he had a gun, and on Saturday also “released photos of a pistol and ankle holster recovered at the scene,” CNN reports.
In the footage from Rakeyia Scott, she is heard saying, “He doesn’t have a gun.” Police officers can be heard saying, “Drop the gun.”
Justin Bamberg, who represents the Scott family, said at news conference Saturday, “You can’t clearly identify what, if anything, is in his hand.”
Police have said Scott “posed an imminent deadly threat.” The new footage, however, questions that, as Scott is seen walking slowly backwards with his arms at his side when the round of shots was fired.
Warning: the footage contains graphic content some readers may find disturbing:
“It does not make sense to us how this incident led to loss of life,” said Ray Dotch, Scott’s brother-in-law, at the news conference.
The New York Times reports Charlotte Police Chief Chief Kerr Putney “also said that more footage would be released upon completion of an independent inquiry being conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation ‘and there has been a definitive decision on the part of the prosecutor.'”
According to the ACLU, Scott was “the 164th Black man killed by U.S. police this year. ”
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