Charlotte Police Say Man Killed Had a Gun, Not Book

Family of Keith Scott says the father of 7 was shot by officers while holding a book
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 21, 2016 12:31 PM CDT
Updated Sep 21, 2016 12:41 PM CDT
Charlotte Police Say Man Killed Had a Gun, Not Book
A protester stands in front of a line of officers Tuesday in Charlotte after a father of seven was killed by police.   (Jeff Siner/The Charlotte Observer via AP)

Police say they found a handgun—but no book—at the scene where Keith Scott was shot and killed by an officer Tuesday afternoon in Charlotte, CNN reports. Family says the 43-year-old father of seven was reading a book in his car while waiting for his son to get out of school and had no weapon. Police were at the apartment complex where Scott was killed to serve a warrant on another man. "I can tell you from the facts that the story's a little bit different as to how it's been portrayed," police chief Kerr Putney says. "The suspect exited the vehicle with a handgun, threatening officers," the New York Times quotes Putney as saying.

Putney says it's unclear if Scott pointed the gun at officers, ABC News reports. But officers believed him to be "an imminent deadly threat." Brentley Vinson, the officer who killed Scott, wasn't wearing a body camera, but others at the scene were. Police say footage from those cameras won't be released until after an investigation. In the meantime, police say evidence and witnesses indicate that Scott had a gun, which he refused to drop. Scott's daughter said on Facebook she believes police planted evidence at the scene. The Justice Department is looking into the shooting. Both Scott and Vinson are black. (More police shooting stories.)

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