CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on the release of a video showing a fatal shooting by police (all times local):
5 p.m.
Civil rights activists in North Carolina are urging a nonviolent response after the release of video footage showing a police officer fatally shooting a man.
A Charlotte-Mecklenburg officer and a colleague were heard on a body-cam video yelling multiple commands for 27-year-old Danquirs Napoleon Franklin to drop his gun before he was shot and killed in the parking lot of a Burger King restaurant in March.
Robert Dawkins of Safe Coalition NC said violence and taking to the streets won’t solve anything, and he doesn’t anticipate it happening.
Corine Mack, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg chapter of the NAACP, said she was “asking the citizens of Charlotte and the people of Charlotte to have peaceful demonstrations if that’s what they choose,” but to keep the city safe.
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2:25 p.m.
Authorities in Charlotte, North Carolina, have released video footage of an officer fatally shooting a man who was armed but didn’t point his weapon at police.
The body camera footage released Monday shows two officers approaching 27-year-old Danquirs Napoleon Franklin outside of a Burger King and yelling for him to put his gun down.
Franklin is squatting next to a car and not moving as police approach him. As they shout at him, he can be seen raising his right hand with an object in it. He lowers his hand right around the time when an officer’s first shot can be heard.
After the shooting an officer reaches under his body, says she’s picking up his gun and pulls up a handgun.
Before the video release, city officials urged calm to anyone who may protest.
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11:45 a.m.
A North Carolina police chief says video footage that’s about to be released shows a man fatally shot by an officer was armed.
Charlotte leaders held a news conference Monday to urge calm ahead of the scheduled afternoon release of body camera video from March 25 when 27-year-old Danquirs Napoleon Franklin was shot at a Burger King.
City leaders say protests are planned. Mayor Vi Lyles urged the community to engage in a peaceful discourse about what happened.
Police Chief Kerr Putney said that the video is hard to watch but that there is “clear and compelling evidence” that Franklin was armed.
Police have said an officer fired when Franklin refused to drop his weapon. A witness told a 911 dispatcher that he had been threatening restaurant employees.
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