Police officer cleared for shooting man whose death sparked off riots

The shooting sparked days of protests and rioting.

Image: Protesters hold a moment of silence for Keith Lamont Scott in front of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department headquarters. They remained calm, chanting and waving signs.

During a almost hour-long press conference, Charlotte-Mecklenburg District Attorney R. Andrew Murray recounted the police account of the events that led to Scott’s fatal shooting.

Once Vinson made a decision to engage, he fired four fast shots to end the threat, and stopped firing the moment Scott showed signs of being hit.

“Officer Vinson acted lawfully when he shot Mr. Scott”, Murray said.

Murray detailed his evidence in a meticulous 40-minute presentation Wednesday and released his report on the shooting online.

The Black Lives Matter movement traces its roots to the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012, and gained national ground after 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014.

Murray said at a press conference on Wednesday that Officer Vinson’s shooting of Scott in September was justified because Scott refused to drop a gunheld at his side.

In a news conference, Charles Monnett, an attorney for the family, suggested they may still seek a civil lawsuit against the police department or the city for the shooting, according to the Post.

Vinson was cleared of murder yesterday after prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to charge him.

The district attorney said the two-month investigation disproved those claims.

In fact, as a Scott family attorney, Justin Bamberg, noted, though “it’s safe to say [Scott] did have a gun on his person”, neither the police nor the DA seem to be saying he had it in his hand.

But legal expert James Wyatt said overcoming the seemingly comprehensive findings presented by District Attorney Andrew Murray this week will present challenges.

It’s unfortunate that Mr. Scott, a convicted violent felon with a head injury, felt compelled to illegally arm himself and then illegally abuse drugs in public in view of police officers. He said Scott’s DNA was found on a Colt.380-caliber semi-automatic handgun recovered at the scene.

According to Murray, the gun was cocked, its safety was off and there was one live round in its chamber. “He was aware that, when he pinned the vehicle, that Mr. Scott chose to draw that weapon and have it in his hand”.

Protests erupted in the streets of Charlotte on Wednesday night as it was announced the police officer who shot dead Keith Lamont Scott would not face charges.

Murray said Vinson, who is black, was the only officer who shot Scott. Murray said the investigation found that Scott had a gun at the scene of the shooting, although he admitted there was no evidence that Scott actually raised the gun at officers.