What We Know About the Deadly Charlotte Officer-Involved Shooting

The victim was identified as 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott.

ByABC News
September 21, 2016, 10:45 AM

— -- Police are combing through footage from a deadly police-involved shooting in Charlotte, North Carolina, that left 43-year-old Keith Scott dead and prompted riots in the city.

Police say Scott was armed, though his family has disputed the charge.

At a news conference this morning, Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts called Tuesday's shooting a "tragedy."

Here is how police say the shooting unfolded.

PHOTO: Police gather around protestors, Sept. 20, 2016, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Police gather around protestors, Sept. 20, 2016, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The officers respond

Shortly before 4 p.m. Tuesday, officers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police's metro division crime reduction unit were searching an apartment complex for a suspect with an outstanding warrant.

"Officers observed a subject inside a vehicle in the apartment complex," and "the subject exited the vehicle armed with a firearm," the police said.

"Officers observed the subject get back into the vehicle, at which time they began to approach the subject," the police said.

The shooting

Officers gave Scott loud verbal commands to get out, police said this morning. That's when he got out of the car with a handgun, police said.

Police said he "posed an imminent deadly threat to the officers, who subsequently fired their weapon, striking the subject."

He was taken to a hospital, where he was declared dead, police said.

Officers recovered a handgun "in close proximity" to Scott's body, police said.

Keith Scott, the victim

The victim was identified as Keith Lamont Scott, 43.

His family said he wasn't armed, ABC affiliate WSOC reported. The family said he had a book in his hand and was waiting for his son to be dropped off from school, WSOC said.

Police say a weapon was seized from the scene and no book was found.

The officer

The officer involved in the shooting was Brentley Vinson, who has worked for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department for two years, the department said.

"As is standard procedure with any officer-involved shooting, Officer Vinson has been placed on paid administrative leave," the department said.

The investigation

This morning, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said there is a lot of video from the scene, including body cameras from the officers who responded. Vinson was not wearing a body camera, he said.

Police said detectives are reviewing videos and interviewing witnesses as part of the investigation.

Putney said he has not seen all the video at this point, adding, "I don't know that [Scott] definitively pointed the weapon specifically towards an officer."

Overnight, Putney said that the outstanding warrants that prompted the officers' arrival did not pertain to Scott and that "we don't know if there is a connection of the deceased with the suspect we were looking for."

"At this point, all we know is, there, in the apartment complex parking lot, this subject gets out with a weapon, they engage him, and one of the officers felt a lethal threat and fired his weapon because of it," Putney said overnight.

The Internal Affairs Bureau is conducting "a separate but parallel investigation to determine whether CMPD policies and procedures were adhered to," the police said.

The riots

PHOTO: Police officers wearing riot gear block a road during protests in Charlotte, North Carolina, Sept. 20, 2016.
Police officers wearing riot gear block a road during protests in Charlotte, North Carolina, Sept. 20, 2016.

After Scott was shot, protesters took to Charlotte's streets, shutting down Interstate 85. They opened up 18-wheelers, emptying the contents onto the highway and setting boxes on fire.

Putney said this morning that officers heroically responded to the scene to help. Sixteen officers were injured, and multiple vehicles were damaged, the police said. One person was arrested.

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