Officer Brentley Vinson, who killed the 43-year-old black man in North Carolina in September, deemed by district attorney to have ‘acted lawfully’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

No state criminal charges will be brought against the police officer who fatally shot Keith Scott in North Carolina earlier this year, prosecutors announced on Wednesday.

Andrew Murray, the district attorney in Charlotte, said that officer Brentley Vinson’s shooting of Scott in September was justified because Scott refused to drop a gun held at his side.

“It is my opinion that officer Vinson acted lawfully when he shot Mr Scott,” Murray said at a press conference. “He acted lawfully.”

Scott, 43, never raised or pointed the gun, according to the prosecutor, but Vinson felt he posed an imminent threat because he ignored orders to drop it and stared at them in a “trance-like state”.

Scott’s wife Rakeyia, who filmed some of his confrontation with police and the aftermath, insisted that he was not armed when he was killed.

In a statement, Scott’s family said they were “profoundly disappointed” by the decision. “All our family wanted was justice and for these members of law enforcement to understand that what they did was wrong,” they said.

Acknowledging that the announcement would cause frustration among some residents, Murray said: “We meticulously, thoroughly, reviewed all of the evidence in this case.”



Scott’s death on 20 September became another flashpoint in the nationwide unrest over the killing of African American men by police officers. Protests and riots followed in Charlotte.

In their statement on Wednesday, Scott’s family asked demonstrators to remain peaceful. They urged that “everyone work together to fix the system” that led to Scott’s death.

Authorities said police were waiting to serve an arrest warrant on someone else and noticed Scott had a marijuana “blunt” as he sat in his SUV in the parking lot outside his home.

The officers were prepared to ignore the drugs until Vinson saw that Scott was also holding a gun, Murray said. The officers, who were in plainclothes and tactical police vests, advanced on his vehicle and ordered Scott to get out.

Video evidence released after the shooting showed Scott stepping out into the parking lot, but did not make clear whether he was holding a gun, which he had been carrying earlier in a holster around one of his ankles.

But all of the police officers at the scene said that Scott was indeed holding the weapon, according to Murray, who said the gun was recovered and found to be loaded and bearing Scott’s DNA.



“All of the credible and available evidence suggests that he was in fact armed,” said Murray.

Murray said Vinson decided Scott was an “imminent threat” after Scott stepped out of his SUV with the gun. “Mr Scott looked at Vinson, then looked in the direction of each officer, and then looked back at Vinson,” said Murray.



Officers told investigators that Scott, who had been taking prescription medication, “had a blank stare as if he was in a trance-like state”.

Murray said Scott was illegally armed with a Colt .380 semi-automatic, which he had bought over Facebook. Murray showed a private online message written after the shooting by the man who sold Scott the gun. “It’s my fault he’s dead,” the message said.

The prosecutor pleaded with those angered by his decision to read the findings of state investigators, and insisted that he would have brought charges if they had been warranted.

“I would not hesitate to prosecute an officer who, the evidence showed, had acted outside the law,” said Murray.



