Charlotte authorities have released footage of the deadly shooting of a black man by police officers, after days of heavy pressure from politicians and protesters.
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The death of Mr Keith Lamont Scott, 43, is only the latest in a string of police-linked killings of black men that have fuelled outrage across the United States.
“It’s one word: transparency”, said, Kerby McLean (26), a pastor at Perpetual Hope Kingdom International church in Charlotte, calling on elected leaders to get the tape.
Protests against Scott’s fatal shooting were largely peaceful after the dashboard camera and police body-cam videos were released. The family video, shot by Scott’s wife, was also inconclusive on the question of a gun.
On Sunday, Interim City Manager Ron Kimble declared the Carolina Panthers and Minnesota Vikings game at Bank of America Stadium “an Extraordinary Event”, allowing for greater police control.
Protesters marched through downtown Charlotte to police headquarters late Saturday, carrying signs that said “BlackLives Matter” and “Hands Up”.
Inside the stadium, Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton signalled his support during the pre-game workout by wearing a T-shirt with a Martin Luther King Jr. quote: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.
The videos do not show clearly whether Scott had a gun at the time.
“The vast majority of those laws have restricted public access to police video, either by adding additional exemptions in state public records laws or they’ve created a presumption that the videos are not public records at all, except in certain circumstances”, said Adam Marshall, an attorney for the Reporters Committee, which tracks police department policies on releasing videos and state legislation on the issue.
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In a joint statement, Mayor Jennifer Roberts and the chairman of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, Trevor Fuller, urged the community to continue to “show their unity in a peaceful and legal manner”. It would be easy to say there was a gun because police said the man had one.
Away from the marching, others said the videos increased their doubt about the police explanation that Scott’s shooting was necessary and justified.
A photo shown on a Charlotte TV station reportedly showed the scene immediately after Scott was shot. “There is no definitive visual evidence that he had a gun in his hand”, Putney said.
Protests in Charlotte remained peaceful for another night after the release of police video of a man’s shooting death at the hands of officers.
Relatives and their attorney have also said what they saw on the partial police video footage left them wondering why Scott was killed. But the footage offered no clear evidence that Scott was holding a gun at the time.
A second video does not show Scott before he is on the ground. But demonstrators were still out in full force, protesting outside an National Football League game, which prompted the deployment of additional officers.
Island County Sheriff’s Lt. Mike Hawley said he spotted Arcan Cetin from a patrol auto Saturday evening in Oak Harbor, Washington, and immediately recognised him as the suspect who killed five people at the Cascade Mall in nearby Burlington.
In recent days, a white police officer shot a 13-year-old black boy in Columbus, Ohio, and a white police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, shot an unarmed black man.
The next two nights of protests were free of property damage and violence, with organizers stressing a message of peace at the end of the week.
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Demonstrators also gathered in front of the Omni Hotel, where a protester was fatally shot on Wednesday night.
