Officials in the city of Charlotte have buckled to mounting pressure and released video footage that shows the shooting by a police of a black man - an incident that has sparked nights of angry protest.
Barely 24 hours after he said he would not release the footage as it could inflame an already tense situation, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said on Saturday afternoon he felt able to release some footage captured on police cameras. Police also released photographs that included what police said was a gun that Keith Scott had in his hand.
“What we are releasing are the objective facts,” he said. “I’m standing behind the facts.”
The footage has been taken from two police cameras - one attatched to a dash cam in a police vehicle and the second from a body camera being worn by a uniformed police officer who was present when Mr Scott was shot and killed on Tuesday. He said he will not be showing all the footage that police have.
The footage released on Saturday showed Mr Scott get out of his car and walk backwards from officers. It is at that point that he was shot. CNN said the video contained repeated orders from police officers to "drop a gun" before he was shot multiple times. The time stamp on the video is 3.52pm.
However, the footage does not show Mr Scott pointing a weapon. After he has been shot, it shows officers trying to provide him with first aid. He died at the scene.
Police have conceded that the footage itself does not prove the probable cause that would have permitted an officer to shoot and kill 43-year-old Mr Scott. But he said he would also provide other evidence that would make clear why police had shot him.
“Today we are going to give you everything we can give you,” he said. “You have to put all the evidence together.”
Mr Putney said that Mr Scott was seen rolling a joint in his car. He was later seen picking up a gun. At that point, police decided to intervene. “When you're in possession of marijuana and in possession of a gun, that is a public safety issue,” he said.
Police have claimed that Mr Scott was carrying a gun and refused to drop it when he was repeatedly told to do so by the officers. Yet Mr Scott’s family has insisted he did not own a weapon and was sitting in his car reading a book as he waited for his daughter to return from school.
Mr Scott’s family has already seen the footage and disputed the claim by Mr Putney that he was pointing a gun at officers. Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts has also said the footage is not conclusive.
On Friday, the family of Mr Scott released its own video footage of the incident that was taken by the man’s widow, Rakeyia Scott.
The video, which was released to NBC and the New York Times through the family’s lawyer, does not show the moment of the shooting itself, and does prove whether the 43-year-old was carrying a gun, as police have claimed he was.
But it does provide an insight into the chaotic moments before her husband was killed, as he sat in his car waiting for his daughter to get off a school bus close to their home, ten miles east of Charlotte.
“Don’t shoot him. Don’t shoot him. He has no weapon. He has no weapon. Don’t shoot him,” Mr Scott wife, Rakeyia, can be heard shouting.
A police officer than yells: “Don’t shoot. Drop the gun. Drop the f***ing gun.”
Ms Scott can he heard shouting at her husband: “Keith, get out the car. Keith. Keith! Don’t you do it! Don’t you do it! Keith!”
At that point, a series of shots follow in quick succession. Mr Scott’s wife sounds increasingly horrified.
“F***. Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him? He better not be f***ing dead. He better not be f***ing dead. I know that f***ing much. I know that much. He better not be dead.”
