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Community groups await decision on charges in Keith Scott case

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Prosecutors could announce Wednesday whether charges will be filed against the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Brentley Vinson, who is accused of shooting and killing Keith Scott.

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The deadly officer-involved shooting took place Sept. 20 at The Village at College Downs after officers said they witnessed Scott with drugs and a gun.

Body cam and dashcam video showed Scott getting out of his vehicle and backing away from the vehicle while ignoring the officers’ verbal commands to drop the gun.

Vinson perceived his actions to be an imminent physical threat and fired his weapon, police said. The case was handed over the SBI.

“My hope is that there would be charges, in fact, more than one officer charged,” said Charlotte NAACP president Corine Mack. “We have to look at the fact that African-Americans are being killed and killed and killed, and no one is held accountable.”

In the hours and days after the deadly shooting, protesters filled Charlotte streets.

Mack said the anger is real and she doesn’t know if a decision not to charge the officers would bring a repeat of the violence that followed the shooting. But she said she would support a peaceful protest.

“Protest is something we have to right to do,” Mack said. “I just want to make sure that whatever we do, we do it in a way that’s with decency and order.”

Police aren’t commenting on their plans, but sources told Channel 9 they’ve assigned officers to 12-hour shifts and gearing up for the possibility of protests or worse if there are no charges.

“We’ve got to be ready for either way it comes down,” said Randy Hagler, president of the North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police.

Hagler said he hopes there won’t be a repeat of September’s violence.

“Hopefully calmer heads will prevail and we can get to where we need to be through honest dialogue, and talking to each other and move on,” Hagler said.

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