NBC News on Friday aired video footage of the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The 2 minute and 16 second-long video was taken by Scott’s wife, Rakeyia Scott, on a cell phone, according to NBC News.
It does not capture images of the shooting itself but shows the moments leading up to the shooting. Gun shots can be heard, then it captures Scott on the ground surrounded by police, apparently after being shot. The video does not appear to answer the question of whether Scott had a gun.
This is the first video of the incident that has been publicly released. NBC News obtained the video from Scott’s family and aired it for the first time early Friday afternoon. Police have declined to release dash cam and body camera footage of the incident.
NBC reported that the family had not shown the cell phone video of the incident to the police before Friday.
“They had not given this even to the Charlotte police department until just now. They say they are now distributing it,” NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez said on air. “And they say that the wife is devastated, that she didn’t know, you know, what to do with the video. She has a mistrust of the police and how they handled this, and so now she’s coming forward with the video.”
Charlotte-Mecklenberg police Chief Kerr Putney said Thursday that their videos of the incident do not provide “definitive visual evidence” that Keith Scott was pointing a gun at police officers, but he said other evidence and witness accounts suggest that Scott had a weapon. Scott’s family viewed the police dash cam and body camera videos on Thursday and also said that the videos do not make it clear what, if anything, Keith Scott had in his hand.
The video begins with Rakeyia Scott approaching police vehicles and officers. The video does not show Keith Lamont Scott before the shooting takes place.
As she films, Rakeyia Scott can be heard saying, “Don’t shoot him. Don’t shoot him. He has no weapon. He has no weapon. Don’t shoot him. … He didn’t do anything.”
An officer can be heard repeatedly yelling, “Drop the gun.”
“He doesn’t have a gun. He has a T.B.I.,” Rakeyia Scott can then be heard saying, apparently referring to her husband’s traumatic brain injury.
An officer continues to say, “Drop the gun.”
“He is not going to do anything to you guys. He just took his medicine,” Rakeyia Scott is heard saying.
She can also be heard yelling, “Keith, don’t let them break the windows. Come on out the car.”
An officer can be heard yelling, “Drop the gun,” several more times.
And Rakeyia Scott can be heard saying, “Keith! Don’t do it. … Keith, get out the car. Keith! Keith! Don’t you do it! Don’t you do it! Keith!”
Several shots then ring out, but the video does not show the shooting itself. After the shots were fired, Rakeyia Scott tells officers that she hopes her husband is not dead. The video then shows police standing over Keith Lamont Scott’s body lying on the round as Rakeyia Scott continues to speak.
“Fuck. Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him? He better not be fucking dead. He better not be fucking dead. I know that fucking much. I know that much,” she can be heard saying. “He better not be dead. I’m not going to come near you. I’m going to record, though. I’m not coming near you.”
Read a transcript of the video:
RAKEYIA SCOTT: Don’t shoot him. Don’t shoot him. He has no weapon. He has no weapon. Don’t shoot him.
OFFICER: Don’t shoot. Drop the gun. Drop the fucking gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: Don’t shoot him. Don’t shoot him.
OFFICER: Drop the gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: He didn’t do anything.
OFFICER: Drop the gun. Drop the gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: He doesn’t have a gun. He has a T.B.I.
OFFICER: Drop the gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: He is not going to do anything to you guys.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: He just took his medicine.
OFFICER: Drop the gun. Let me get a fucking baton over here.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: Keith, don’t let them break the windows. Come on out the car.
OFFICER:Drop the gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: Keith! Don’t do it.
OFFICER: Drop the gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: Keith, get out the car. Keith! Keith! Don’t you do it! Don’t you do it! Keith!
OFFICER: Drop the gun.
RAKEYIA SCOTT:Keith! Keith! Keith! Don’t you do it!
[SHOTS]
RAKEYIA SCOTT: Fuck. Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him? He better not be fucking dead.He better not be fucking dead. I know that fucking much. I know that much. He better not be dead. I’m not going to come near you. I’m going to record, though. I’m not coming near you. I’m going to record, though. He better be alive because I come — you better be alive. How about that?Yes, we here, over here at 50, um, 50, um, 9453 Lexington Court. These are the police officers that shot my husband, and he better live. He better live. Because he didn’t do nothing to them.
OFFICER: Is everybody good? Are you good?
RAKEYIA SCOTT: He good. An’t nobody touch nobody, so they’re all good.
OFFICER: You good?
RAKEYIA SCOTT: I know he better live. I know he better live. How about that I’m not coming to you guys, but he’d better live. He better live. You all hear this, you see this, right? He better live.
RAKEYIA SCOTT: He better live. I swear, he better live. Yep, he better live. He better fucking live. He better live. Where is — He better fucking live, and I can’t even leave the damn — I ain’t going nowhere. I’m in the same damn spot. What the fuck. That’s O.K. did you all call the police? I mean, did you all call the ambulance?
