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Hundreds of protesters have surrounded Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police in the University area after a Black police officer killed a Black man who had been sitting in his car.

According to reports, Keith Lamont Scott was sitting in his truck in an apartment complex parking lot when the fatal shooting occurred about 4 p.m. on Old Concord Road. Police were in the area serving a warrant on another suspect.

 

Witnesses say Scott, 43, was reading a book waiting for his son to get out of school. Police say Scott got out of his truck brandishing a gun. Scott then got back in his car. Officers confronted Scott, a father of seven. According to WCNC, officer Brentley Hinson,  shot Scott. Both Hinson and Scott are Black. CMPD have said they found a gun at the scene.

News media interviewed family members and witnesses who disputed the claim.

“He didn’t have no gun. He wasn’t messing with nobody,” said a woman, who identified herself as Scott’s sister.

She told news crews that Scott sits in his truck everyday reading a book, and waiting for his son to get out of school.

As word of the fatal shooting spread, protesters gathered on Old Concord Road throughout the evening. Police in riot gear tried to quell the crowd, but they were outnumbered. Protesters chanted “All lives matter when black lives matter.”

According to media reports, protesters threw water bottles at police. By 11 p.m., WCCB news reported that police deployed smoke bombs to disperse the crowd, and that some protesters threw the smoke canisters back at police.

The City of Charlotte sent buses into the protest area to evacuate police, but the crowd enveloped police making it difficult for them to leave. One officer was reportedly treated for a head injury according to media reports.

This story is continuing to develop.