CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept 22 (Reuters) – The family of the North Carolina black man whose shooting death by police in triggered two nights of riots viewed video of the episode yesterday, but a lawyer for the family of Keith Scott said it was unclear if Scott was holding a gun when killed.
Scott’s family called on police in Charlotte, North Carolina, to immediately release the two police videos that they saw, adding pressure on police to make them public.
The rioting that has engulfed the city claimed a victim yesterday, as city officials said that a protester who was shot on Wednesday had died.
With hundreds of protesters gathering in the city for a third straight night, the city yesterday imposed a curfew from midnight to 6 a.m. local time. National Guard troops fortified a robust police throughout the center of town, helping to quell the crowd.
Scott, 43, was killed on Tuesday by a black police officer as part of a police search for another man. Police contend Scott was carrying a gun when he approached officers and ignored repeated orders to drop it. His family previously said he was holding a book, not a firearm.
His death is the latest to stir passions in the United States over the police use of deadly force against black men. The family’s viewing of the video came on the same day that a police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was charged with first-degree manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man whose car had broken down and blocked a road.
Earlier yesterday, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency in Charlotte and called in the National Guard in response to the rioting.
Major Gerald Smith of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department told Reuters that police would not enforce the curfew imposed by the city as long as the protests remained peaceful.
