Cue the rioters in Charlotte, N.C. — again. They already demonstrated for two nights in September, following the fatal shooting of a black man by a white police officer. During the “protests,” as the mainstream media liked to call them, a white man in a parking garage was stripped and beaten by a gang of black marauders who knew nothing about the man beyond the color of his skin. In a separate incident, a homeless man was kicked so hard by a rioter that he fell to the ground, and in a third, a CNN reporter was body-slammed on camera, while the crowd attempted to set fire to another newsman.
The rioting, accompanied by the de rigueur looting, would likely have gone on a third night and beyond, had the governor not declared a state of emergency and called in the National Guard.
That was then and this is now. And now a Mecklenburg County district attorney has said that the officer, Brentley Vinson, acted in self-defense when he shot and killed 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott, who according to D.A. Andrew Murray, was armed at the time of the shooting.
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At a lengthy news conference, Murray … showed surveillance video from a nearby store, noting the outline of what appeared to be a holstered gun on Scott’s ankle.
He pointed to previous evidence — video showing officers demanding Scott drop his weapon, and a gun collected from the crime scene — saying there were no indications that the dad was reading when he was killed.
[…]
Scott’s loved ones said they may file a lawsuit following the lack of charges.
“We are profoundly disappointed in their decision not to criminally charge Officer Brantley Vinson for his actions in taking the life of Keith Lamont Scott,” Scott’s family said in a statement.
And as for the rioting? The Charlotte News & Observer notes that protesters have already assembled outside police headquarters in preparation for another night of mayhem. “Charlotte Uprising,” which describes itself as “a coalition of community members dedicated to ending state violence against Black people and all marginalized and oppressed communities” tweeted out shortly after the decision was announced:
As expected the pigs of CMPD see nothing wrong with their continued murders of black people. Tonight 6:45p @ CMPD HQ we shut that shit down!
— Charlotte Uprising (@cltuprising) November 30, 2016
State and local leaders can’t say they haven’t been warned.
