Charlotte police officer who fatally

shot Keith Scott acted lawfully, wont

be charged

Protesters raise their arms during a march in Charlotte prompted

by the fatal shooting of Keith Scott. (Jeff Siner/The Charlotte
Observer via AP)

By Mark Berman November 30 at 3:50 PM

Prosecutors said that the officer who fatally shot a Charlotte man
in September will not be charged for the shooting, concluding that
the man was armed and that the officer acted lawfully during the
encounter.

Its a justified shooting based on the totality of the

circumstances, R. Andrew Murray, district attorney
for Mecklenburg County, said during a news conference
Wednesday morning.
The shooting of Keith Lamont Scott on Sept. 20 set off days of
heated, sometimes violent protests in Charlotte, some of the most
intense demonstrations seen nationwide amid an increased focus
on how police use deadly force.
Murray said that the recommendation from 15 career prosecutors
in this case was unanimous. He said that he informed Scotts
family of the decision earlier Wednesday.
It was a difficult decision, Murray said during a briefing
Wednesday morning. However, the family was extremely
gracious.
Scotts family said they were profoundly disappointed in the
announcement Wednesday. They also thanked Murray and
investigators for sharing information about how the probe
unfolded and concluded.
[Video taken by Scotts wife shows her pleading for his life]
Police have said that Scott raised a gun at officers before Brentley
Vinson, a black plainclothes officer in Charlotte, fired the fatal
shots.
Scotts family has disputed that the 43-year-old pointed a gun at
the officer and whether he had a gun. After the shooting, police
released photos of a gun and ankle holster, and authorities said
that gun was loaded and had Scotts fingerprints and DNA.
During the news conference, Murray pored over details from the
day of the shooting, ultimately saying he had no doubt that Scott
had a gun during the encounter. He also said the gun a Colt.
380 semi-automatic was loaded, the safety was off and a bullet
was in the chamber.

Theres been some speculation in the community regarding

whether Mr. Scott was armed, Murray said. All of the credible
and available evidence suggests that he was, in fact, armed.

District Attorney Andrew Murray discussing evidence as he

announced the decision Wednesday. (Diedra Laird/Charlotte
Observer via AP)
In a letter to Bob Schurmeier, head of the North Carolina Bureau
of Investigation, and Kerr Putney, chief of the CharlotteMecklenburg police force, Murray said that evidence included DNA

on the guns grip and slide, officers discussing seeing the gun on
the radio before the shooting and a person admitting they illegally
sold Scott the same gun found at the shooting scene.
Police had previously released a photo of a blunt from the
scene. Authorities said officers in an unmarked car in the
apartment complex where the shooting occurred were conducting
surveillance in an unrelated case when they saw Scott, in his own
car, rolling the blunt with marijuana.
Murray said Wednesday that while police said they were not going
to act on the marijuana, they decided to move on Scott when they
saw him raise a gun while sitting in his car.
Vinson was not wearing a recording device at the time of the
shooting, police said, but the department released other
videos from the scene after intense pressure. Murray said
Wednesday that none of the videos showed Scott with the gun in
his hand when he got out of his car, something all four officers at
the scene reported seeing.
A still image from a video the Charlotte police released showing
Keith Scott l

ooki
ng at officers with hands by his sides just before he was shot.
(Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department via Reuters)
However, Murray said that videos did appear to show that Scotts
pant leg was pulled up above where police said they recovered
the ankle holster. During the briefing, Murray also showed
surveillance video footage from the same day showing a bulge in
Scotts ankle that he said was consistent with a holster and a gun.
In a recording of the shooting taken by
Scotts wife, Rakeyia, she can be heard yelling at the officers that
her husband was unarmed while pleading with them not to fire.
Dont shoot him, she says in the video. Dont shoot him. He
has no weapon. He has no weapon. Dont shoot him.
In his report on the shooting, Murray said that officers called on
Scott to drop his gun 10 times before he got out of his SUV and
continued saying it after he was out of the car.

Vinson told authorities that he felt Scott was an imminent threat

to him and the other officers. During an interview with a Charlotte
detective conducted a day after the shooting, Vinson said he fired
because Scott was looking at the officers like he was trying to
decide who he wanted to shoot first.
I felt like if I didnt do anything right then at that point its like
hehe was gonna shoot me or hes gonna shoot one a my
buddies, um, and it was gonna happen right now, Vinson said
during the interview, according to a transcript released by
Murrays office.

The family of Keith Lamont Scott including his wife Rakeyia

Scott, right at a news conference after finding out charges

would not be filed against the officer who shot and killed him.
(Davie Hinshaw/The Charlotte Observer via AP)
Footage from a body camera worn by another officer at the
scene captured part of the encounter, but it lacked audiobecause
the officer did not activate it until after the shooting. Investigators
and the public were therefore unable to learn some key details
about what happened before the shots were fired.
An autopsy showed that Scott had four gunshot wounds, including
one to his back.
According to Murray, investigators spoke to a number of people
who said they saw the shooting, but some of them gave
conflicting statements. Three of these people had said on social
media or told reporters they thought Scott was unarmed, but
investigators determined they never saw the shooting, Murray
said.
The State Bureau of Investigation put 63 agents on this probe,
and they spend more than 2,300 hours on the case, Murray said.
While initial accounts said that Scott was reading a book when he
encountered police, state investigators found no evidence he had
a book with him when he was shot.
Scotts family, as well as attorneys representing them, called on
anyone who protests the decision to do so peacefully.
While we understand that many in the Charlotte area share our
frustration and pain, we ask that everyone work together to fix
the system that allowed this tragedy to happen in the first place,
the Scott family said in a statement released through their
attorneys. All our family wanted was justice and for these
members of law enforcement to understand that what they did
was wrong.
Police in Charlotte, N.C., released video from one body camera

and one dashboard camera on Sept. 24th of the fatal Keith Scott
shooting. (Editor's note: This video contains graphic
content.) (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department)
Charles Monnett, an attorney for the family, suggested during a
news conference that Scotts relatives may still seek a civil
lawsuit against the police department or the city for the shooting,
adding: We look forward to someday obtaining justice for Keith
and his family.
At least one group of activists in Charlotte said they planned to
gather outside the police department headquarters on
Wednesday evening to protest the decision.
We recognize that for some members of our community, this
news will be met with different reactions, the city of Charlotte
said in a statement Wednesday.
No matter where you stand on the issue, the events surrounding
the Scott shooting have forever changed our community, and we
intend to learn from and build a stronger Charlotte because of it.
The unrest set off by Scotts death left the city reeling and
struggling to return to normal. Some small protests continued
after the demonstrations that garnered national media coverage,
while downtown streets remained unsettled in the aftermath of
peaceful protests that had descended into chaos.
The lives of both the Scott and Vinson families have been
changed forever, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department
said in a statement Wednesday. One of our officers had to make
the difficult but split second decision to use their service weapon
and as a result a life was lost. In these circumstances, it is
important that we remain focused on our sworn duty and
unwavering commitment to protecting our community along with
serving it.

Vinson was placed on administrative leave after the shooting. A

police spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for
comment regarding his status after Murrays announcement.
Scott is one of 875 people fatally shot by police officers so far this
year, according to a Washington Post database tracking such
shootings.
Charges against officers who fatally shoot people are rare, but
this number has increased recently after waves of protests
prompted by high-profile deaths involving police in New York,
Baltimore, Cleveland and Baton Rouge.
Earlier this month, prosecutors in Minnesota said they were
charging an officer with manslaughter for fatally shooting man
during a July encounter partially streamed on Facebook. In
September, while Charlotte was still roiled by protests, a Tulsa
police officer was charged with manslaughter for shooting and
killing an unarmed black man four days before Scott was killed.
This story, first published at 11:28 a.m., will be updated through
the day.
Posted by Thavam