Keith Lamont Scott was sitting in a car, reading a book, when he was shot four times by undercover police in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Tuesday afternoon. Family members and witnesses say Scott, who was disabled, was waiting for a school bus to drop one of his sons off when police encountered him. The police version of what happens disputes that, of course. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said they were at The Village at College Downs apartment complex to deliver an outstanding warrant, when they saw Scott exit a vehicle with a weapon and then get back into the vehicle. As the officers approached Scott, they say he exited the vehicle a second time with a weapon in his hand. That’s when one of the officers yelled “Gun!” and fired his service weapon at Scott, hitting him several times. Scott was taken to the Carolinas Medical Center where he died. He was 43 years old. Relatives of Scott at the scene say that the police did not identify themselves before they shot Scott:
"He was waiting on his son to get from school and police came out with no — he didn't have on no uniform to determine if he was a police or not — he was an undercover and he just jumped out and yelled 'gun' and shot at him," the man said. "I think they shot him four times. I'm not sure, but he's dead."
Scott's sister told WSOC he "wasn't messing with nobody" when the undercover officers showed up.
"They jumped out their truck. They said, 'Hands up! He got a gun! He got a gun!' Pow, pow, pow, pow," she said. "That's it. He didn't have no gun."
Protestors converged on the apartment complex and faced off with police late into the night. Tear gas was deployed at those gathered, and more than one police car was damaged by the crowd. Police say several officers were also hurt during the confrontation:
A large crowd of demonstrators began gathering near the scene of the shooting Tuesday evening to protest the killing of Keith Lamont Scott, with some people chanting “black lives matter” and “hands up, don’t shoot.” News reports and posts on social media showed police in riot gear firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the demonstrators and some people smashing out the windows of police cars.
Police said 12 officers were injured during the demonstrations, one of them hit in the face with a rock. At least seven people were taken from the demonstration and treated for non-life threatening injuries, the Charlotte Observer tweeted.
According to the local ABC affiliate, protestors blocked a highway and began looting from trucks immobilized on the highway:
Early Tuesday morning the unrest raged on as a group of people blocked traffic on I-85. A live video feed from a WSOC-TV helicopter hovering above the scene appeared to show people removing items from the back of trucks on the highway.
The scene on I-85 appeared to devolve into looting, with people pulling items from tractor-trailers and burning boxes.
The officer who shot Scott, Brentley Vinson, is also Black and has been with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department since July 21, 2014. He has been placed on paid leave while the shooting is investigated.