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Video Shows Moments Leading Up to Fatal Police Shooting of Keith Lamont Scott (UPDATED)

Video showing the moments leading up to the fatal police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott has been released.

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Image via Complex Original
Complex Original

UPDATED 5:33 p.m. ET

NBC News has acquired the footage of Charlotte, S.C. resident Keith Lamont Scott's fatal shooting. The video, taken by Scott's wife, does not explicitly show the moment he was shot, or clarify whether or not Scott was in possession of a gun.

"Don't shoot him, don't shoot him," Rakeyia Scott begs police before they fire. "He doesn't have a gun."

Police officers in the background repeatedly tell Scott to drop his gun while Scott's wife tells him not to get out of his car. Viewers can then hear rapid gunfire; Scott's wife screams at the officers, telling them he "better not be f--king dead."

"I'm not going to come near you, I'm going to record you," she says. Scott's body, spread-eagle on the ground, enters the frame as officers appear to handcuff him. "We're here at 9453 Lexington Court. These are the police officers that shot my husband, and he better live. He better live, because he didn't do nothing to them."

She keeps repeating "he better live." There is no gun immediately visible in the frame of the video.

Though an NBC affiliate obtained an eyewitness photo shows a dark object (which some have speculated is a gun) next to Scott's body, footage obtained by MSNBC shows that object falling from an officer. You can watch the footage below.

Scott's family put out a statement about releasing the cell phone footage through one of the family's attorneys Charles G. Monnett. The family released the video in an effort to be "transparent" and truthful the statement read.

Brently Vinson, the officer who fired the fatal shot, has been placed on paid administrative leave, NBC reported.

Police arrived at Scott's apartment complex to serve a warrant to someone else when they surrounded Scott's car, which was parked in a visitor's space. He reportedly waited there for one of his children to come home from school.

The shooting sparked days of protests in Charlotte, where protestor Justin Carr was shot and killed. Police have employed tear gas on protestors and the city enacted a midnight curfew. South Carolina's governor Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency and enlisted the National Guard to intervene.

This is a developing story.

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