Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Kerr Putney confirms that police investigators did not find a book at the scene of the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott.
After Scott was shot and killed, members of his family and protesters insisted that he had a book in the vehicle, not a handgun as police officers reported. Protests and riots fueled by the alternate narrative rocked the city.
Rioters trashed multiple police vehicles, blocked Interstate 85, looted a tractor trailer, set items on fire, and injured 16 police officers, according to Putney.
Putney confirmed that investigators discovered a handgun at the scene, but not a book, according to the property sheet of items recovered at the scene.
“I can tell you a weapon was seized, a handgun. I can also tell you that we did not find a book,” he said, during a press conference about the shooting on Wednesday morning.
According to Putney, Scott was spotted by law enforcement in a vehicle with a handgun. Officers ordered Scott to drop the weapon and exit the vehicle but he refused, exiting the vehicle armed with his handgun and ignoring orders to disarm.
Officer Brentley Vinson, an African-American police officer, shot Scott in response to the perceived threat and officers immediately gave him medical attention before medical teams arrived. Scott died as a result of his injuries.
Putney urged the people of Charlotte to stand up for the facts of the investigation, and fight the alternative narrative that was being spread on social media after the shooting.
“It’s time for the voiceless majority to stand up and be heard. It’s time to change the narrative,” he said. “Because I can tell you from the facts that the story is a little bit different as to how it’s been portrayed so far, especially through social media.”
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