CHARLOTTE SHOOTING
Police release bodycam footage of Keith Scott shooting after protests following his death
Charlotte Police have said they will not release all the footage but only the "pertinent" parts
POLICE have released bodycam and dashboard videos showing the moment a black man was fatally shot, triggering rioting in the American city of Charlotte.
The police chief announced today the footage would be made public, but only the "pertinent" parts, after calls from protesters and civil rights leaders.
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The brief footage from a dashcam and bodycam attached to an officer shows Keith walking backwards away from his car before he is shot.
Cars and officers get in the way of a clear line of sight to see what actually happens, but when the police pull his hands behind his back as he lies on the floor, blood is visible on his fingers.
The shooting of the father-of-seven was the latest in a series of deaths at the hands of the police in recent years which has caused outrage.
43-year-old Keith Scott was said to have been reading a book when he was shot and his family continues to claim he was unarmed.
Police have said he was in possession of a gun which he refused to drop after commands, and he was wearing an ankle holster.
Images of the holster and gun have been released today.
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A string of protests have been held across North Carolina after the shooting of the black man
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His death came days after another black man, Terence Crutcher, an unarmed pastor, was shot in Tulsa as he stood by his stalled car by a white police officer who has since been charged with manslaughter.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney told a news conference that the evidence showed Keith was in possession of a handgun and marijuana.
But tweets from the police force which have now been deleted said there was no definitive visual evidence that he had a gun in his hand.
Chief Putney said: "They [officers] look in the car and they see the marijuana, they don't act. They see the gun and they think they need to."
A video taken by Scott's wife and released to the public on Friday did not provide an answer on whether Scott had a gun.
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Chief Putney said: "Yes, based on the totality of what we see, he absolutely was in possession of a handgun.
"The footage itself will not create in anyone's mind absolute certainty as to what this case represents and what the outcome should be."
Earlier in the week, he had said that police were not ready to release the video because doing so could compromise the investigation into the shooting.
But on Saturday, he said that after speaking with state investigators the video could now be released without "adversely impacting" the investigation.
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Protesters have called for officers involved in the shooting to face criminal charges, but Putney said: "Officers are absolutely not being charged by me at this point.
"But again, there's another investigation ongoing."
Keith, who was sitting in a parked car when confronted by police, was shot by Officer Brentley Vinson, who has been placed on paid administrative leave.
Demonstrators on Saturday mounted a fifth day of protests in Charlotte. They called for the end of emergency measures imposed on the city this week, the removal of National Guard troops and for officers involved in the incident to be prosecuted.
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