The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department announced Thursday that it will show body-camera video to Keith Lamont Scott's family but will not release that video to the public. Although the department has been adamant that the 43-year-old had a gun at the time he was fatally shot by a police officer Tuesday—a claim that his family strongly denies—Chief Kerr Putney said that video he's reviewed does not show "definitive, visual evidence that would confirm that a person is pointing a gun," ABC News reports.
"I did not see that in the videos that I reviewed," Putney said at a news conference Thursday. "So what I can tell you, though, is when taken in the totality of all the other evidence, it supports what we've heard and the version of the truth that we gave about the circumstances that happened that led to the death of Mr. Scott."
Putney acknowledged that the police are working to provide Scott's family with body-cam footage that they have requested, but reiterated that he will not release the footage publicly, noting that it could jeopardize the investigation.
"We release it when we believe it is a compelling reason, but I'm not going to jeopardize the investigation," the police chief told reporters.
Scott's family claims that he was fatally shot by police Tuesday as he waited for his son to be dropped off from school. The police, however, claim that while searching for a suspect, who was not Scott, they ordered Scott out of his car. They also claim that Scott was holding a handgun, which he refused to drop. An officer fired, hitting Scott, who was later pronounced dead, ABC News reports.
Brentley Vinson, the officer involved in the shooting, has been placed on paid administrative leave.
Since the shooting, protesters have gathered on the streets of Charlotte to demand justice for Scott.
Read more at ABC News.