Charlotte Shooting: Police Will Release Video of Fatal Incident

Police chief has previously said that department’s footage of the deadly encounter wouldn’t prove definitively if Keith Scott had a weapon

keith l scott charlotte police shooting
Rakeyia Scott/The New York Times

In the face of mounting public pressure, police will release footage from the fatal shooting of Keith Lamon Scott, the New York Times reports.

Police chief Kerr Putney told reporters during a news conference Saturday that the footage, consisting of dashboard and body camera recordings would be made public.

Charlotte has been rocked by protests and unrest since the Sept. 20 killing.

Police maintain that Scott was armed during the shooting. However, in cell-phone footage filmed by Scott’s wife Rakeyia, published by numerous media outlets on Friday, Rakeyia can be heard telling police that her husband, 43, didn’t have a gun.

“Don’t shoot him. Don’t shoot him. He has no weapon. He has no weapon,” Scott says in the video. “Don’t shoot him.”

Despite her claim, a police officer continually instructs her husband, “Drop the gun.”

The cell-phone footage did not capture the shooting itself, but rather the moments before and after the fatal incident.

Putney said earlier this week that the police department’s footage “does not give me absolute, definitive visual evidence that would confirm that a person is pointing a gun.”

Police approached Scott after he had parked his car at his apartment complex, in a visitor’s space. Officers were present at the property to serve a warrant on another individual.

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