Video: Police shoot down a man after telling him to drop his gun

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The police video released on Monday shows an officer in Charlotte, North Carolina, shooting mortally at an armed man but not pointing his gun at the authorities.

The camera footage shows two officers approaching Danquirs' Napoleon Franklin, 27, in front of a Burger King on March 25 and repeatedly shouting at him to lay his gun. He is squatting near the open door of a car and faces a passenger.

"Sir, put down your gun," said the officer carrying the camera to the body. "Let go of your weapon!"

Franklin does not move when the police approach him, as the video shows. While they scream after him, one can see Franklin raising his right hand with an object, still facing the person sitting in the passenger seat.

According to the video, he lowers his hand when the first of two shots of the officer is heard. "Gunshots!" the officer shouts in his radio. About 40 seconds had elapsed between the moment the officer got out of his cruiser and the moment Franklin was shot.

She then reaches under her body and can be seen picking up a handgun, saying, "I have to pick up the gun."

Before the video broadcast, Charlotte's leaders held a press conference to urge community members to stay calm after seeing what was in it. They noted that demonstrations were planned even before the release of the video.

Mayor Vi Lyles urged the community to make a peaceful speech about what happened.

"It's in times like this that we can open the discussion and the speech, we can talk about what's on this video," she said. "But I still think about how we will react as a community will reflect how we honor Danquirs Franklin's memory."

Police Chief Kerr Putney said the video was hard to watch, but that it proved that Franklin was armed.

"There is clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Franklin is armed.You will see that" on the video, Putney said at a press conference.

Putney said on Monday that the video was consistent with what the police had said from the beginning, that Franklin was refusing to drop his gun and that an officer had been fired after being caught sighted. a deadly threat.

A witness told a 911 dispatcher that Franklin was armed and threatened the restaurant's employees.

But since the shooting, some have wondered if the police were too fast to use lethal force.