Activist groups hold rally in Charlotte on Saturday over fatal police shooting

Protestors+walk+down+Harris+Blvd.+on+Wednesday+morning%2C+Sept.+21%2C+2016+in+Charlotte%2C+N.C.+%28Jeff+Siner%2FCharlotte+Observer%2FTNS%29

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Protestors walk down Harris Blvd. on Wednesday morning, Sept. 21, 2016 in Charlotte, N.C. (Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer/TNS)

CHARLOTTE, N.C.— Several activist groups gathered to demonstrate in Charlotte Saturday afternoon, united by calls for government transparency and to urge change in light of recent police shootings nationwide of unarmed black men.

The event – scheduled to include the local group The Tribe, Progress NC and the Trans and Queer People of Color Collective of Charlotte — began about 1 p.m. in Marshall Park. Marshall Park has been the site of demonstrations and a vigil this week as hundreds of people have participated in Black Lives Matter events and other gatherings to protest the police shooting that killed 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott, a Charlotte resident, on Tuesday.

A Facebook event announcing Saturday’s demonstration says organizers believe Scott was “profiled and killed by police” and accuses local police officials of not telling the truth about his murder. The organizers say Scott was reading a book in his car before police officers demanded he get out.

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Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Kerr Putney has said his officers did not find a book at the shooting scene while recovering evidence. Putney has said evidence he’s seen shows the officer was justified in using deadly force. North Carolina’s top law enforcement agency is investigating.

A protestor carries a sign along Old Concord Rd. on Tuesday night, Sept. 20, 2016 in Charlotte, N.C. (Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer/TNS)
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A protestor carries a sign along Old Concord Rd. on Tuesday night, Sept. 20, 2016 in Charlotte, N.C. (Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer/TNS)

CMPD officer Brentley Vinson, 26, is on administrative leave — a standard practice for officers who have shot and killed a person on duty. Vinson is also black.

Under pressure, authorities on Saturday evening released patrol car dashcam and officer body cam video footage from the shooting and the moments leading up to Scott’s death. Two bystander videos, including one from Scott’s wife, shot on her phone, have been released to various media outlets already.

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