Brentley Vinson will not be charged with the death of Keith Lamont Scott, as stated by the police officer's attorney. District Attorney Andre Murray declared that there was nothing wrong with what Vinson did in the September 20 incident which resulted in the death of Scott.
"I'm extremely convinced that Mr. Vinson's use of deadly force was lawful," Murray said.
According to the evidence, 43-year old Keith Lamont Scott stepped out of his SUV outside his apartment while holding a gun; he refused to comply with the commands from the police officers to drop his gun. Aside from the gun, an ankle holster and marijuana was also found with him.
Keith Lamont Scott was the son of a police detective who got into a motorcycle accident last year where he suffered from traumatic brain injury. He was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2005.
After the death of Scott, there were two nights of rioting in Charlotte and demonstrations that lasted a week. There was enough violence that Governor Pat McCrory had to declare a state of emergency.
Murry further elaborated that the social media reports claiming that Scott was holding a book and not a gun are untrue. Rakeyia Scott stated after the shooting that her husband did not own a gun since January 2016. But 18 days before he was confronted by Vinson and other police officers, Scott bought the Colt .380 semi-automatic for $100. The seller who admitted that Scott asked him to get him a gun because he was facing a problem with his wife's side of the family.
Even the people who said they saw the shooting and claimed that Scott was unarmed recanted their statements and admitted that they did not see the actual shooting.
DA Murray consulted with 15 veteran prosecutors, which includes two African-American and one Latino, and the decision was unanimous that there was not enough evidence to charge Vinson.
The medical records of Scott were gathered by the SBI Inquiry, and the records stated that Scott had psychiatric disorders which include hallucinations, paranoia, depression and anxiety. His wife Rakeyia even told her husband's therapist that his temper and impatience were shorter than before.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police had to be put on alert just in case the community reacts in the same way it did when news of Scott's death was released.
A professor if criminology from the University of Texas at Dallas, Robert Taylor said that not charging Vinson was the right thing to do. Taylor, who was a former police officer said that under the circumstances, a person with a gun is considered dangerous.
He says the focus now should be fixing the relationship between the police officers and the African-American community, who says are feeling fear due to the events that happened.
