CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ In a surprise visit Sunday morning, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told the congregation of Charlotte's Little Rock African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church that the "community is in pain" over the police shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott.
Clinton had planned to be in Charlotte a week earlier, but postponed her visit after Mayor Jennifer Roberts asked that she delay the trip after the Scott shooting Sept. 20.
Clinton said police need to be trained to de-escalate situations that can lead to police shootings.
"We need to dismantle the so-called school-to-prison pipeline and instead invest in early education ... through higher education," she said.
She criticized Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's repeated call for law and order.
"We can have both," she said. "This isn't an either or question."
Clinton also called Zionna Oliphant to the front. Zionna is a fourth-grader who spoke about the Scott shooting at last week's City Council meeting. She put her arm around the girl as she spoke.
"Protecting all of God's children is our calling," she said.
Religious leaders invited Clinton to Charlotte to hear from community members and families, according to her campaign. Little Rock AME Zion Church is a historically black congregation in Charlotte known as a place for serious discussion about race, civil rights and society.
It wasn't the first time Clinton addressed Scott's death.
The day after Scott was shot, Clinton, on Twitter, expressed her support for the victim and for law enforcement officers.
"We have two names to add to a long list of African-Americans killed by police officers," she wrote. "It's unbearable, and it needs to become intolerable."
Two days later, she urged the city of Charlotte to release police video from the Scott shooting.
At last Monday's debate with Trump, in response to a question about the Charlotte and Tulsa, Okla., shootings, she called for more police training in an effort to restore trust along with legislation to end what she called "the gun epidemic."
