An officer-involved fatal shooting of a black man in Charlotte, North Carolina, has led to rioting and looting, which has resulted in damage and destruction of property and injuries to at least 12 police officers. Almost as soon as the shooting was reported, social media posts went viral with claims of police — again — targeting an unarmed black man and killing him simply for being black. That narrative — although false — has fueled the flames of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) fire that is raging through America’s cities, leaving destruction in its aftermath.
The recent trouble in Charlotte began Tuesday just before 4:00 p.m. Charlotte police officers were searching for a suspect with an outstanding warrant at an apartment complex known as The Village at College Downs when they noticed Keith Lamont Scott exit a vehicle in the parking lot of the apartments. Scott — who was not the suspect with the outstanding warrant — was carrying a handgun when he exited the vehicle. When he saw the officers, he returned to the vehicle and got back inside. As the officers approached, he got out of the vehicle armed with the handgun, and the officers said he refused to obey multiple orders to put the gun down. The officers said Scott “posed an imminent deadly threat” to the officers, and so an officer, Brentley Vinson, fired his weapon. The officers immediately performed CPR and called for medics, but were unable to save Scott’s life.
Within an hour social media was exploding with the news. Scott was described as a peaceful, disabled man minding his own business and reading a book while waiting in the car for his son’s school bus. #KeithLamontScott began trending on Facebook and Twitter. A young woman who identified herself as Scott’s daughter streamed a Facebook Live video claiming her father did not have a gun, only a book. She said police killed him because he was black.
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Just after 7:00 p.m., the “protests” began. Many of those present carried signs with the obligatory slogans, “Black Lives Matter” and “No Justice, No Peace,” with many additional signs saying, “It Was A Book!” As the “protests” escalated into violence, police tried to gain control of the situation, but officers were injured and police cars were destroyed. As the night progressed, the violence and destruction grew worse and more widespread. By night’s end, rioters had broken through the doors of a Walmart store and looted it, leaving a path of destruction. On several overpasses across I85, rioters indiscriminately targeted cars on the interstate by throwing water bottles and rocks onto the vehicles as they passed. Traffic was stopped on the interstate and semi-trucks were looted, with much of the cargo piled in the middle of the interstate and set ablaze.
Charlotte and surrounding police departments used tear gas and riot gear to work at containing and de-escalating the situation. At least a dozen officers were injured, and some were hospitalized for their injuries. The violence and destruction continued through the night and finally died down in the early morning hours of Wednesday. By the time it was over, the people shouting that “black lives matter” had destroyed much of their own black neighborhoods. Oh, the irony.
This writer imagines that #ItWasABook will become a new mantra of BLM in the days and weeks to come, similar to the #HandsUpDon’tShoot mantra that gained so much attention after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014. Both of these mantras are — of course — demonstrably false. Brown was proved — by witness testimony and forensic evidence — to be running toward Officer Darren Wilson when he was shot, and it is already certain that Scott was armed and that there was not even a book at the scene at the time of his shooting.
At 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney, Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, and Executive Director of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Relations Willie Ratchford held a press conference at Charlotte’s City Hall. Putney said that the social media narrative is false and has led to unwarranted violence. He said a gun was recovered at the scene and that Scott did not have a book on him at the scene. “We’re still going through all of the footage from both body-worn and dash,” he told the assembled press. He added, “I can tell you a weapon was seized, a handgun. I can also tell you we did not find a book that has been made reference to.” Furthermore, it is not merely the word of the officers on the scene and the investigators in the case that unravels the loose threads of the BLM lies about what happened. Witnesses at the time of the shooting saw Scott with the gun and heard the officers order him to drop it. “The officers gave loud clear verbal commands which were also heard by many of the witnesses,” Putney said in his statement to the press, adding, “They instructed him to drop the weapon.”
So, here we go again. It’s like a rerun of a bad TV show. A police officer is doing a routine part of his job — in this case, serving an outstanding warrant — and encounters an armed black man who refuses to obey orders to drop the gun in his hand. When the officer reasonably believes he and his fellow officers are in immediate danger, he shoots the armed black man. Then crowds take to the streets throughout the night, burning and pillaging their own neighborhoods while shouting that “black lives matter.” If the trend holds true from past similar episodes, Wednesday will show signs of calm while the rioters sleep it off and then Wednesday night, it will play all over again.
Of course, while the claim is that racism is to blame for the shooting, it is worth putting in the for-what-it’s-worth column that the officer who shot and killed Scott is black.
