Photos: Police officers in full riot gear, wearing gas masks, deploying tear gas and flash-bangs against protesters angry over the killing by a police officer of a Black man they believe was armed with only a book.
Charlotte, North Carolina is the second-largest city in the southeastern United States. It is also the nation’s second-largest banking center. “The Queen City,” as it is known, has a population of over 800,000 people.
Tonight, it is the center of the latest explosion of anger at law enforcement, over the killing of Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year old father of seven, whom some say was disabled. A Charlotte police officer Tuesday afternoon shot and killed Scott because, the Charlotte Police claim, he was holding a gun. His family says he didn’t own a gun, insisting instead he was reading a book in his car, waiting for his son to come home from school.
Regardless of your position on tonight’s events, it’s hard to watch the events and not be stunned at the level of militarization of the police in Charlotte.Â
Hopefully, the facts will be uncovered, and soon, but for now, take a look at these images, revealing the extreme militarization of Charlotte’s police officers.
This, right now, is what the streets of a major street in America look like:
RELATED:Â Charlotte Police Chief Says Officer Who Killed Keith Lamont Scott Had No Body Camera, Gun Found
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Image by Mark Boyle via Twitter