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 Charlotte police on Saturday released portions of bodycam and dashcam footage and a photo of the gun police said Keith Lamont Scott was holding when he was fatally shot by an officer. 
 
 The dashcam video shows Scott come out of a white SUV while police stand behind another vehicle with their weapons raised and command him to drop the gun. Scott eventually emerges from the SUV slowly and backs away. As he is backing up, four shots can be heard, and Scott can be seen falling to the ground. 
 
 The bodycam video briefly shows Scott standing outside of the SUV with the door open before he is shot, and then shows officers respond to him while he’s on the ground. 
 
 Neither video shows whether or not Scott had a firearm in his hand during the incident, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said before the videos were released. He said other evidence concluded that Scott was in possession of a gun. 
 
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 Related: Scott Family Says Police Videos Bring More Questions Than Answers 
 
 The officer who shot Scott was not wearing a body camera, police have said. 
 
 Along with the videos, police on Saturday released a photo of the handgun and an ankle holster they said were in Scott's possession. Police said a lab analysis showed Scott’s DNA and fingerprints were on the gun. 
 
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 Scott’s family maintains that he did not have a gun at the time of the shooting. 
 
 An attorney for the Scott family, Justin Bamberg, said the video appears to show Scott walking backwards and not posing a threat before he was shot, and it isn't clear from the footage that he had a gun. 
 
 A pistol that police said was in the possession of Keith Lamont Scott is seen in a picture provided by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. Sepr. 24, 2016. HANDOUT / Reuters 
 
 "Do those actions, do those precious seconds justify this shooting?" Bamberg said at a news conference after the video was released. 
 
 Scott’s shooting death ignited protests in North Carolina’s largest city, fueled in part by criticism of police over the use of lethal force by officers against black men. Only one officer shot Scott, police said, and that officer is also black. 
 
 Police in the press release Saturday gave a fuller account of what caused police, who were looking for another person, to confront Scott. 
 
 Police said plainclothes officers were in the parking lot preparing to serve an arrest warrant against someone else Tuesday when an SUV parked beside them. The officers saw Scott rolling a marijuana “blunt,” which they ignored, but then Brentley Vinson, who fired the fatal shots “observed Mr. Scott hold a gun up.” 
 
 A police officer shot and killed Keith Lamont Scott, 43, near the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. via Facebook 
 
 "Due to the combination of illegal drugs and the gun Mr. Scott had in his possession, officers decided to take enforcement action for public safety concerns,” police said. 
 
 The officers left to don marked duty vests and "upon returning, the officers again witnessed Mr. Scott in possession of a gun," police said. An officer tried to use a baton to “breach the window” of the SUV in order to make the arrest, police said. 
 
 "Mr. Scott then exited the vehicle with the gun and backed away from the vehicle while continuing to ignore officers’ repeated loud verbal commands to drop the gun,” the police statement said. 
 
 "Officer Vinson perceived Mr. Scott’s actions and movements as an imminent physical threat to himself and the other officers," the statement said. 
 
 Related: Why Viewing Bodycam Video Isn't Easy Under New N.C. Law 
 
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 The statement said that after Scott was shot, officers rendered first aid and called a medic to the scene. 
 
 Not all the video was released. Putney said some of the other police video was not relevant to the shooting. 
 
 The videos were released at around 6:35 p.m. Police had earlier in the week declined to release police video of the encounter. 
 
 "I have decided that we're at a stage where I can release additional information without adversely impacting [the State Bureau of Investigation's] investigation," Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said at a news conference Saturday afternoon. "Prior to this point, it would have had an impact." 
 
 A gun holster that police said was in the possession of Keith Lamont Scott is seen in a picture provided by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 24, 2016. HANDOUT / Reuters 
 
 "The footage will not prove anything true or not it, only can support the physical evidence," he said, adding that new evidence as a whole would provide "the most complete puzzle" that police could offer. 
 
 The Scott family was permitted to view the police video Thursday. The Family released cell phone video taken by Scott's wife, Rakeyia Scott, that shows part of the encounter but not the shooting. 
 
 "He doesn't have a gun. He has a TBI [traumatic brain injury]," Rakeyia Scott says in the video that she took. "He's not going to do anything to you guys. He just took his medicine." 
 
 Brentley Vinson, the plainclothes officer who fired the fatal shots at Scott, was not wearing a bodycam, according to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police. But three other officers who were at the scene were. 
 
 A handout picture made available by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) on Sept. 24, 2016 shows a marijuana 'blunt' allegedly recovered from the person of Keith Lamont Scott after he was fatally shot by police officers in Charlotte on Sept. 20, 2016. HANDOUT / EPA 
 
 Gov. Pat McCrory, who declared a state of emergency after the protests became violent again Wednesday, said in a statement Saturday that he agreed with Putney's decision to release footage. 
 
 "I have been assured by the State Bureau of Investigation that the release will have no material impact on the independent investigation since most of the known witnesses have been interviewed," he said. 
 
 Earlier Saturday, the NAACP in Charlotte joined the calls for police to share the footage, calling it "video that is ours." ||||| Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, released some of the department's tapes of the fatal shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, which has sparked days of protests across the city. 
 
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 Police Chief Kerr Putney announced the release at a news conference today, saying that other footage will come later. 
 
 In the dash cam video Scott is seen exiting his car, he then walks backwards with his hands before four shots are heard. It is unclear whether there is anything in his hands. 
 
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 The actual shooting is neither seen nor heard in the body cam footage. 
 
 Officer Brentley Vinson, identified by police as the officer who shot Scott, cannot be seen firing his weapon in either video. 
 
 The chief says the tapes show that Scott was "absolutely" in possession of a handgun and will offer "indisputable evidence" of the department's account, and he said that at this point, he the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department will not be charging any officer in the shooting. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is also investigating the case. 
 
 Police also released photos of a handgun and holster and of a marijuana "blunt" that were taken as evidence in the case. 
 
 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department 
 
 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department 
 
 Putney said officers were conducting surveillance related to a warrant they intended to serve on someone else, but their attention was drawn to Scott. They saw marijuana and a weapon in Scott's car and said believed, "this is a safety issue for us and the public," the police chief said. 
 
 He said Scott was shot after he did not follow police commands to drop his weapon. 
 
 "At every encounter, people can make a decision to follow loud, verbal commands. They (officers) were reacting to what they saw and they have a duty to do so," Putney said. 
 
 He added that he believes the footage can now be released without jeopardizing the investigation. 
 
 Ray Dotch, Scott's brother-in-law, said at a press conference this evening that the family was glad that the body camera and dashcam videos have been released but added that unfortunately the family is left with more questions than answered. 
 
 Justin Bamberg, a lawyer for the Scott family said, that they appreciate that their request for the video release was heard and that it is another step in the pursuit for all the facts, but said that in his opinion, he does not see Scott look aggressive or lunge at officers. 
 
 Charles Monnett, another attorney at the press conference said that the community should express their opinions but should do it lawfully and peacefully. 
 
 The police announcement came after hundreds of people gathered in Charlotte's Marshall Park demanding the release of the police video footage, marching peacefully under the hot sun in, chanting and holding signs that said "Release the Tape." 
 
 Jason Miczek/Reuters 
 
 Calls to release the footage had intensified after Scott's family released cell phone video of the moments leading up to and after the shooting Tuesday. 
 
 A woman identified as Scott's wife, Rakeyia Scott, recorded the incident with her phone and the video was provided to ABC News on Friday by attorneys for the Scott family. In the video, Rakeyia Scott can be heard pleading with police to not shoot her husband, a 43-year-old black man, as officers order the man to "drop the gun." As the encounter continues, the woman yells back at police, insisting her husband is harmless and doesn't have a weapon. 
 
 "He doesn't have a gun," she says. "He has a T.B.I. [traumatic brain injury]. He's not going to do anything to you guys. He just took his medicine." 
 
 Police repeatedly scream at Keith Lamont Scott to "drop the gun" and, moments later, multiple gunshots ring out. The actual shooting is not shown on the video as Rakeyia Scott points her cellphone at the ground and screams, "Did you shoot him?" She then runs closer to the scene, angling the cellphone camera this time at the spot where her husband was shot. Scott's body is seen lying in the street surrounded by several officers. 
 
 The cellphone video was the first footage of Scott's deadly encounter with police to be publicly released. One of the attorneys representing the Scott family, Charles G. Monnett, said they released the video "in the name of truth and transparency." 
 
 During the rally today in Charlotte, activists and religious leaders joined protesters' calls for investigators to release the videos. Corine Mack, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP, told the crowd amid cheers that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had launched an investigation into the case. 
 
 The DOJ's Community Relations Service has said it is "is working to maintain open lines of communication and ease tension in Charlotte," but the department has not yet decided whether to open an investigation. A Justice Department spokesman said Attorney General Loretta Lynch's remarks from Thursday, indicating the department is monitoring the case, still stand. 
 
 The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said its officers were searching for a suspect who had an outstanding warrant when they encountered Scott in a vehicle outside an apartment complex around 4 p.m. Tuesday. Police said Scott was not the suspect that officers sought but that he was holding a handgun, which investigators recovered from the scene, and posed a threat because he was not obeying police orders to remain inside his car and drop the weapon. 
 
 Officer Vinson subsequently fired his gun, striking Scott, who police said was treated immediately and later pronounced dead, police said. 
 
 Vinson, who has been employed with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department since July 21, 2014, and is currently assigned to the metro division. He has been placed on paid administrative leave while the investigation into Scott's death is ongoing, according to Putney. 
 
 Vinson, who is black, was not wearing a body camera at the time. 
 
 Scott's family maintains he was not holding a gun and he was just waiting for his son to be dropped off from school. Justin Bamberg, a lawyer representing Scott's family, said in a statement Thursday that it's "impossible" to detect from the police footage what Scott is holding and at no point did Scott appear or act aggressively. ||||| Video footage released Saturday shows Keith Lamont Scott taking four steps slowly backward with his arms at his sides when he is hit in a burst of four gunshots from police, then crumples to the pavement. 
 
 From neither vantage point – a police dashboard camera and a body camera worn by one of the officers on the scene – can it be determined whether Scott is holding a gun. 
 
 But police can be heard repeatedly shouting “Drop the gun!” at the 43-year-old Scott, who died from his wounds Tuesday as his wife stood nearby. 
 
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 SHARE COPY LINK WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released body and dash-cam videos of the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott on Saturday after days of mounting public pressure. In a press conference, Chief Kerr Putney 
 
 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney released the videos Saturday after a tumultuous week of protests and two nights of street violence spurred by the shooting. 
 
 In the dashboard video, a police SUV can be seen pulling into the parking lot where Scott’s white SUV is parked. An officer in a red shirt is visible pointing his weapon at Scott’s vehicle, whose tinted windows are up. 
 
 In a deadly tableau lasting about three seconds, Scott, surrounded by officers at varying distances, then opens his door, steps out, turns and walks backward, hands at his side. Four shots are heard and he falls. 
 
 In neither video is the resolution good enough to show whether Scott was holding a weapon. Nor does either show the officer firing at him. 
 
 A body cam on another officer at the scene shows Scott emerging from the SUV, then lying in the parking lot seconds later. Police handcuff him while Scott’s wife can be heard yelling at police, “He better be alive!” 
 
 Marijuana keyed action 
 
 On Saturday, Putney said that Scott drew the attention of officers who were trying to serve an arrest warrant on an unrelated suspect at the Village at College Downs apartment complex in University City because they saw him rolling marijuana in his vehicle. 
 
 Police were going to let it go and continue on their original mission until an officer spotted a weapon in the vehicle, Putney said. 
 
 “It was not lawful for him to possess a firearm,” Putney said. “There was a crime he committed and the gun exacerbated the situation.” 
 
 Officer Brentley Vinson, who Putney said fired four shots at Scott, was not wearing a body cam, so his visual perspective was not part of the footage. Putney said that body cameras are being rolled out across the department and not all tactical officers have them yet. 
 
 Putney said the footage supports the larger weight of evidence in the case, which includes accounts from officers at the scene, forensics and interviews with witnesses. 
 
 He said he has found nothing to indicate that Vinson acted inappropriately, given the totality of the circumstances, and he does not think his officers broke the law that day. 
 
 They were, he said, reacting to what appeared to be an imminent threat. 
 
 “At every encounter, people can make a decision to follow lawful, loud verbal commands and avert some things like this,” he said. 
 
 SHARE COPY LINK Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney speaks to the media before releasing footage of a police shooting. 
 
 Details of encounter 
 
 Police on Saturday gave this account of the fatal encounter: 
 
 Two officers in plain clothes were in an unmarked car waiting to serve a warrant when Scott’s white SUV pulled in beside them. 
 
 They saw Scott roll what they believed to be “a marijuana ‘blunt.’ ” They returned to watching for their suspect, then Vinson saw Scott hold up a gun. 
 
 They withdrew to a spot nearby and put on duty vests that said “Police” that would identify them as officers. 
 
 When they came back, Scott still had the gun. They identified themselves as police officers, the department said, and told him loudly and repeatedly to drop the weapon. Scott did not comply. 
 
 Then a uniformed officer in a marked SUV drove up to assist, and an officer started pounding on the front passenger window. 
 
 Scott then got out with the gun and backed away from the vehicle, police said, but did not drop the weapon. 
 
 “Officer Vinson perceived Mr. Scott’s actions and movements as an imminent physical threat to himself and the other officers,” police said in a statement. “Officer Vinson fired his issued service weapon, striking Mr. Scott. Officers immediately rendered first aid and requested Medic to respond to the scene.” 
 
 Police said multiple witnesses interviewed by homicide detectives heard the police shouting at Scott to drop the gun. 
 
 Scott’s DNA and his fingerprints were found on the loaded gun recovered at the scene. Scott was wearing an ankle holster, police said. 
 
 Family response 
 
 Family members of Scott said they still have more questions than answers. 
 
 “It does not make sense to us how this incident led to loss of life,” said Scott’s brother-in-law, Ray Dotch, who spoke at a press conference called by the Scott family after the videos were released. “He was an American citizen and he deserved better.” 
 
 Lawyers for the Scott family said the videos do not clearly identify what, if anything, Scott had in his hands. CMPD said he was holding a handgun, but the family believes he was unarmed, the lawyers said. 
 
 When CMPD released the videos Saturday night, they also released photos of a handgun, ankle holster and marijuana blunt they said were in Scott’s possession at the time of the incident. The gun was loaded, they said. 
 
 Debate over release 
 
 Widespread calls were heard during the week for release of the police video footage from civic and political quarters – and even street protesters who chanted “Release the tapes!” repeatedly outside CMPD headquarters and in marches. 
 
 On Friday, attorneys for Scott’s family released a dramatic cellphone video taken by Rakeyia Scott during her husband’s shooting. 
 
 In it, she can be heard pleading with officers not to shoot as they shouted at Scott to drop his gun. 
 
 Putney said the appearance of that footage had no impact on his decision to release the police videos. 
 
 He said he decided to release the videos in the interest of transparency and because the State Bureau of Investigation, which is leading the inquiry in the case, had completed key interviews with witnesses and assured him the release would not harm the integrity of their probe. 
 
 “Doing so before this would have had a negative impact on the investigation,” he said. 
 
 In the aftermath of Scott’s death, Charlotte was roiled by several nights of protests. After street violence on Tuesday and Wednesday night, dozens of arrests and the death of one man in uptown, Gov. Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency. 
 
 Hundreds of National Guard and State Highway Patrol officers were sent into the city to restore calm and a midnight-to-6 a.m. curfew was announced. 
 
 McCrory, who recently signed a law, going into effect Oct. 1, that sets new limits on public access to police videos, said he agreed with Putney’s decision to release the tapes. 
 
 “We have appreciated the ongoing dialogue and teamwork between state and city officials,” McCrory said, “to seek public transparency while protecting the integrity of the investigation and the rights of all parties involved in this case.” 
 
 ‘A way forward’ 
 
 U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., whose district includes parts of Charlotte, said she hoped the release would lead to healing dialogue. 
 
 “We all deserve the truth, justice and a way forward so that we can heal and become an example of a city that emerges stronger and safer because we choose to address our problems,” she said, “even after all the television cameras have gone.” 
 
 Police had shown Scott’s family two videos Thursday. Through their attorneys, the family requested they be immediately released to the public. 
 
 Justin Bamberg, one of the family’s lawyers, said after viewing the police tapes that he felt Scott’s demeanor was calm and non-aggressive. 
 
 Another video that appeared to have been taken by a resident of the apartment complex shooting from a balcony surfaced on social media on Friday. It showed police moving around Scott’s body. 
 
 Also at issue is a photograph that circulated this week on social media, and was shared by CMPD. It showed a dark shape near Scott’s feet. Some have said the shape is a weapon. That shape is not apparent in Rakeyia Scott’s video. 
 
 Neither police video shows any weapons on the ground, but they were not well positioned to cover the entire scene. 
 
 Teddy Kulmala of the Rock Hill Herald and Anna Douglas of the McClatchy Washington Bureau contributed. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. 
 
 Unsettling footage obtained by NBC News shows the moments leading up to the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina. 
 
 The video, taken by Scott's wife, does not clearly show the exact moment he was shot by police on Tuesday. Scott is seen on the ground surrounded by police officers moments after the shots were fired. 
 
 "He better not be f---ing dead, he better not be f---ing dead," Rakeyia Scott can be heard shouting at the officers. "He better live, he better live!" It is not clear what preceded the shooting. 
 
 The killing of Scott, 43, sparked three nights of fiery protests and violent clashes between protesters and law enforcement. Activists and the Scott family have pressed city officials to release bodycam or dashcam footage of the fatal encounter. 
 
 A police officer shot and killed Keith Lamont Scott, 43, near the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. via Facebook 
 
 In the two-minute, 12-second footage provided by the Scott family's attorney to NBC News, Rakeyia Scott can be heard saying, "Don't shoot him, don't shoot him" as police appear to converge on a white vehicle in the parking lot of a condominium complex. "He has no weapon — don't shoot him!" 
 
 Click here for a full transcript of the footage 
 
 Rakeyia Scott can be heard urging her husband to comply with the officers who had instructed her husband to "drop the gun, drop the gun." 
 
 "Keith, don't let them break the windows! Come on out of the car," she can be heard yelling, "Keith, don't do it!" 
 
 "Keith, Keith, Keith — don't you do it!" 
 
 Related: Man Arrested in Fatal Shooting of Charlotte Protester 
 
 It's at that moment that four gunshots can be heard, as Scott's wife screams: "Did you shoot him? Did you shoot him?" 
 
 In the aftermath, police officers can be seen attending to Scott's prone body as his wife apparently calls 9-1-1. 
 
 The footage was obtained by NBC News amid conflicting reports about whether a gun was found at the scene of the shooting. Police say he had a handgun on him and posed "an imminent, deadly threat." The family says he was not armed and did not pose a threat to the officers. 
 
 No gun is clearly visible in the video footage, which appears to have been recorded from a nearby patch of grass. A photo, previously obtained by NBC News from local affiliate WCNC, appears to show an object at the scene that police sources identified to the affiliate as a gun. It is not known how long after the shooting the photo was taken. 
 
 Here's what we know about the shooting: 
 
 Police arrived at The Village at College Downs complex near the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to search for someone else with an outstanding warrant. Officers said they saw Scott holding a handgun as he exited his car and returned to his vehicle. He then exited again as officers approached him and became threatening, police said. 
 
 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said three officers at the scene were wearing bodycams, although the officer who fired the fatal shot was not. 
 
 Protesters have demanded that police release their videos, but Putney has refused, saying that he didn’t want to jeopardize the investigation. The State Bureau of Investigation is leading a review into the shooting. 
 
 Putney said Thursday that the videos he has seen don’t show "absolute, definitive, visual evidence" that Scott pointed a gun at the officers. 
 
 Justin Bamberg, an attorney for the Scott family who also watched the police videos, said they fail to prove that he was armed. Scott can be seen in the video calmly walking back after he was approached by police, according to Bamberg. 
 
 "It is impossible to discern from the videos what, if anything, Mr. Scott is holding in his hands," he said in a statement. 
 
 PHOTOS: Defiant But Peaceful Protesters March Again in Charlotte 
 
 CMPD Officer Brentley Vinson, who like Scott is African-American, has been placed on paid administrative leave, as is standard procedure. 
 
 Bamberg said Thursday that the family wants the police videos made public. 
 
 "It was incredibly difficult for members of the Scott family to view these videos, but as a matter of the greater good and transparency, the Scott family asks that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department publicly immediately release both of the videos they watched today," Bamberg said. 
 
 The NAACP on Friday also urged the police to release the videos. 
 
 Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts said Friday that she watched some of the police footage and does want it released, but the ongoing investigation must be taken into consideration. 
 
 "The question is on the timing," she said. 
 
 The State Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the shooting, said Friday it would not release the police videos at this time. Special Agent in Charge of the Charlotte District Audria Bridges said she had no comment on the video released by Scott's wife. 
 
 "We are well on our way to conducting a thorough and comprehensive investigation," Bridges said.
– In a reversal of course, police in Charlotte on Saturday released bodycam and dashcam footage from the fatal shooting of Keith Scott. (See it here via the Washington Post.) In addition to the video, police also released a photo of the gun they say was spotted in Scott's vehicle. Some early descriptions: Charlotte Observer: The videos "do not show Keith Lamont Scott raising a weapon toward officers nor a gun in his hand." NBC News: "The dashcam video released shows Scott come out of a white SUV while police stand behind another vehicle with their weapons raised and command him to drop the gun. Scott eventually emerges from the SUV slowly and backs away. As he is backing up, four shots can be heard, and Scott can be seen falling to the ground." AP: "Scott can be seen in police dashboard camera video backing away from his SUV with his hands down, and it's unclear if there's anything in the man's hands. Four shots are heard, and he falls to the ground." ABC News: "The actual shooting is neither seen nor heard in the body cam footage.Officer Brentley Vinson, identified by police as the officer who shot Scott, cannot be seen firing his weapon in either video." Rakeyia Scott released her own video of her husband's shooting Friday.