Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old African American resident of Charlotte, North Carolina, was shot and killed by police officers on Tuesday. The protests that followed his death turned violent, leaving a trail of destruction and injuries in their wake.
As police are reporting, 12 officers were hurt in the protests:
Crowds now throwing more rocks and destroying police cruisers.#KeithLamontScott
Scott was killed while police were serving a warrant for a different person at a Charlotte apartment complex. According to the police account reported by the Charlotte Observer, officers saw Scott exit his car holding a gun, and shot him, claiming he:
“posed an immediate deadly threat to the officers.”
But Scott’s family disagrees, saying he was holding a book.
Police say the man posed an immediate danger to police… his family said he was carrying a book
According to CNN, Brentley Vinson, the officer who shot and killed Scott, has been placed on administrative leave. Vinson is African American, according to the Observer.
In the hours that followed Scott’s death, according to the Charlotte Observer, protesters shut down Interstate 85, starting a fire on the highway and disrupting traffic:
Throughout the night, protesters chanted slogans and held signs reading “Black Lives Matter” and “Stop Killing Us.” The scene was sometimes chaotic and tense, with water bottles and stones chucked at police lines, but many protesters called for peace and implored their fellow demonstrators not to act violently.
People have looted semi-trucks stopped on I-85 and started fires as protests continue in Charlotte
Raw footage from the Associated Press showed the scale of the events: