The Charlotte Police have released body and dashboard cam videos. While the video does not show enough of what happened to show a gun in hand, police say that Keith Lamont Scott had a gun when police shot him, and the video shows police yelling to “drop the gun” as he turned towards them and was shot.
While the video in itself does not resolve the legal issue of whether the shooting was lawful, it completely contradicts the initial narrative that Scott was holding or pointing a book.
WSOC-TV reports on the scenario presented by the police upon the release of the evidence:
Two plain clothes officers were sitting inside of their unmarked police vehicle preparing to serve an arrest warrant in the parking lot of The Village at College Downs when a white SUV pulled in and parked beside them.The officers saw the driver, later identified as Keith Lamont Scott, rolling what they believed to be a marijuana “blunt.”Officers did not consider Scott’s drug activity to be a priority at the time and they resumed the warrant operation. A short time later, Officer Vinson saw Scott hold a gun up.Because of that, the officers had probable cause to arrest him for the drug violation and to further investigate Scott being in possession of the gun.Due to the combination of illegal drugs and the gun Scott had in his possession, officers decided to take enforcement action for public safety concerns. Officers left the immediate area to outfit themselves with marked duty vests and equipment that would clearly identify them as police officers.Upon returning, the officers again witnessed Scott in possession of a gun. The officers immediately identified themselves as police officers and gave clear, loud and repeated verbal commands to drop the gun. Scott refused to follow the officers repeated verbal commands.A uniformed officer in a marked patrol vehicle arrived to assist the officers. The uniformed officer used his baton to attempt to breach the front passenger window in an effort to arrest Scott.Scott then exited the vehicle with the gun and backed away from the vehicle while continuing to ignore officers’ repeated loud verbal commands to drop the gun. Officer Vinson perceived Scott’s actions and movements as an imminent physical threat to himself and the other officers, and fired his issued service weapon, striking Scott….A lab analysis conducted of the gun crime scene investigators recovered at the scene revealed the presence of Scott’s DNA and his fingerprints on the gun. It was also determined that the gun Scott possessed was loaded at the time of the encounter with the officers. The investigation also revealed that Scott was wearing an ankle holster at the time of the event.
Here is the police chiefs press conference announcing the release of the video:
Heres a composite video from CNN:
Here are the individual videos released by the police:
Bob Owens at Bearing Arms notes that the video appears to show that Scott had an ankle holster:
(Note:Title and opening text clarified after publication)
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY