NORTH CAROLINA POLICE OFFICER ‘ACTED LAWFULLY’

Charlotte Officer Brentley Vinson, who shot and killed Keith Lamont Scott, will NOT be charged, DA announces

Associated Press
November 30, 2016

A Charlotte police officer acted lawfully when he shot and killed Keith Lamont Scott in a case that touched off several nights of unrest in the city.

A North Carolina prosecutor announced the decision on Wednesday morning, despite Scott's death on September 20 officially being ruled a homicide.

An independent autopsy ordered by Scott's family revealed that the 43-year-old shooting victim was hit in the back and abdomen during a confrontation with police.

According to the official version of events, Charlotte-Mecklenburg officer Brentley Vinson, who is black, pulled the trigger and killed Scott, who was also black.

There was also video of the shooting on a cell phone.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg District Attorney Andrew Murray made the announcement Wednesday in the shooting by officer Vinson.

'It is my opinion that Officer Vinson acted lawfully when he shot Mr. Scott,' Murray said at a news conference.

'He acted lawfully.'

Scott was sitting in his vehicle at an apartment complex when he was confronted by police.

Police video showed officers shouting for Scott to drop a gun numerous times. Scott's family have maintained that he was not armed.

Vinson said he saw Scott rolling a marijuana joint and holding a gun, and fired at him out of concern for public safety.

The case gained national attention after Scott's wife, Rakeyia, shared cellphone video she took of the moments leading up to the killing, in which she begs officers not to shoot her husband.

However, Murray displayed a nearby store's surveillance video showing the outline of what appeared to be a holstered gun on Scott's ankle, and he discussed other evidence that Scott was armed.