Residents of Charlotte, North Carolina on Wednesday had a protest after a police man shot an African-American man, Keith L. Scott.
Scott, 43 was shot dead by the police on Tuesday afternoon. Kerr Putney, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police chief, claimed that Scott had a gun. His family members however said he was holding a book.
At the University City apartment complex where Mr. Scott was killed, people said that investigators were covering up a murder, and cast doubts on the police account. Some activists who spoke at a morning news conference called for an economic boycott of Charlotte.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Kerr Putney, said officers had found the gun that the police said Mr. Scott had brandished before he was shot and were examining police video of the encounter between Mr. Scott and officers as Mr. Scott stepped out of a car.
“He did have a weapon when he exited the vehicle,” Chief Putney said. “Officers were giving loud, clear verbal commands. The suspect exited the vehicle with a handgun, threatening officers.”
While family members of Mr. Scott have said that he was unarmed, and was holding only a book, Chief Putney said Wednesday morning, “We did not find a book.”
About an hour later, John Barnett, a civil rights activist in Charlotte, said during a raucous news conference near the site of the shooting that Mr. Scott had simply been waiting for his son to arrive home from school.
“The truth of the matter is, he didn’t point that gun,” Mr. Barnett said. “Did he intend to really sit in a vehicle, waiting on his son to get home from school and then plot to shoot a cop if they pulled up on him?”
Adding to an atmosphere loaded with suspicion and mistrust, residents of the apartment complex gave varying accounts of Mr. Scott’s death.
Some gave a different account from the police of which officer had fired the fatal shots, and others said that no one had tried to administer C.P.R. on Mr. Scott as officials had said.
“Since black lives do not matter for this city, then our black dollars should not matter,” said B. J. Murphy, another Charlotte activist. “We’re watching a modern-day lynching on social media, on television and it is affecting the psyche of black people.”
Mr. Murphy added: “Everybody in Charlotte should be on notice that black people, today, we’re tired of this bull. We’re tired of being killed and nobody saying nothing. We’re tired of our political leaders going along to get along; they’re so weak, they don’t have no sympathy for our grief. And we want justice.”
Gov. Pat McCrory, a former Charlotte mayor, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon that state officials would “do everything we can to support the mayor and the police chief in their efforts to keep the community calm and to get this situation resolved.”
Mr. McCrory, a Republican, gained a reputation as a moderate during his 14-year tenure as mayor here, but his relations with the city have become strained as governor, particularly after he supported legislation overturning a local ordinance offering protections for gay and transgender people. His statement Wednesday added: “It’s very important that we all work together as a team to solve a very difficult issue and to bring peace and resolution.”