The police narrative surrounding the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott contradicts the story his family has told the media, and it remains unclear whether he was holding a gun or a book at the time he was shot.
Police killed Scott, an African-American father of seven, on Tuesday in Charlotte, North Carolina, apartment complex parking lot as officers looked for another man named in a warrant they were trying to serve.
Scott’s family said he was sitting in his car reading a book, waiting for his son to come home from school, but Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney, who is also African-American, sees it differently.
Putney said that Scott, 43, exited his car with a gun, not a book, and officers couldn’t find a book at the scene. Putney said evidence and witnesses both support the officers’ claim that Scott was armed.
“It’s time for the voiceless majority to stand up and be heard,” Putney said. “It’s time to change the narrative because I can tell you from the facts that the story’s a little bit different as to how it’s been portrayed so far, especially through social media.”
According to CNN, Putney said that the officer opened fire when Scott refused to put down his gun. Officer Brentley Vinson, who fired the fatal shot, is also African-American and was not wearing a body camera.
The shooting resulted in a night of violent demonstrations in Charlotte on Tuesday. Putney said 16 officers were injured in the protests.
Mass Shootings in America That Horrified All of Us (Photos)
Newtown, Conn. - On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School. They were between the ages of six and seven years old. He also killed six adult staff members.
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Washington D.C. — A former Navy reservist shot and killed 12 people on September 16, 2013, at a military facility. The gunman was killed.
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Tyrone, Mo. - On Feb. 27, 2015, Joseph Jesse Aldridge killed seven people — four of them relatives — in a door-to-door shooting spree before killing himself.
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Waco, Tex. - Nine people were killed and many more were injured after two biker gangs began firing at each other at a motorcycle club on May 17, 2015.
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Charleston, S.C. - Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people during a racially motivated shooting in a predominantly African-American church on June 17, 2015.
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Chattanooga, Tenn. - A gunman named Mohammod Youssuf Abdulazeez entered two military facilities on July 16, 2015, and killed four Marines and injured others, before he was killed.
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Umpqua, Ore. - On October 1, 2015, Chris Harper Mercer killed nine people and injured seven to nine more at Umpqua Community College before two police officers shot him. Mercer then committed suicide.
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San Bernardino, Calif. - 14 people were killed and another 21 injured after Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire during a holiday party on December 2, 2015. The pair were later killed during a shootout with police.
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Orlando, Fla. - 50 people were killed and 53 wounded on June 11, 2016, at Pulse, a gay nightclub. Just before the shooting, suspected killer Omar Mateen called 911 and pledged his allegiance to the terror group ISIS. Mateen was also shot an killed by police on the scene.
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TheWrap looks back at recent mass shootings that have happened on U.S. soil
Newtown, Conn. - On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School. They were between the ages of six and seven years old. He also killed six adult staff members.