CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ When Charlotte erupted in sometimes violent protests last week over Keith Lamont Scott's death, some city officials and residents were surprised by people's fury.
But that anger was on display two months earlier, at what first seemed like a routine City Council meeting but was a possible warning sign of escalating tension.
Many of the citizens who signed up to speak that night at the July 25 citizen's forum talked about police accountability and the Black Lives Matter movement.
The tone was angry, and Mayor Jennifer Roberts and council members were heckled and shouted down.
Through other controversies _ such as the trial of Randall "Wes" Kerrick in the fatal shooting of Jonathan Ferrell _ citizens hadn't repeatedly heckled the city's leaders.
"I remember right before I spoke, I had a foreboding that things were going to get very, very heavy in our community if we didn't take some drastic measures to turn it around," said Theresa McCormick-Dunlop, a social worker who spoke at the July 25 meeting and again at Monday night's council meeting, when citizens berated Roberts and council members for more than two hours over Scott's death.
"When I did speak that night, I came with a prepared speech, but I abandoned that with a desperate plea for the City Council to see the severity of the situation and to pay attention to the climate in the neighborhood," she said.
McCormick-Dunlop participated in the Scott protests uptown over the weekend.
