Protesters don’t get that cops are human and don’t actually want to shoot people, especially when they view themselves as wanting to help people, like this guy apparently did.
Brentley Vinson, the CMPD officer involved in a fatal shooting that sparked protests Tuesday night, grew up in Charlotte, played football at Ardrey Kell High School and dreamed of becoming a police officer like his father.
Larry Kennedy, who coached Vinson through middle school at J.M. Robinson in south Charlotte, said Vinson had long talked about becoming a police officer and would often talk about potentially becoming a federal officer one day.
“I thought when he became a police officer like his dad (Alex) that it was a perfect fit for him,” said Kennedy, assistant football coach at South Mecklenburg High School. “I’ve watched this kid work his butt off from an early age. … He’s a phenomenal kid and happens to be in an unfortunate situation right now, and I hate to see him be in the middle of it and being vilified the way he is.”
Protesters gathered Tuesday night on Old Concord Road at Bonnie Lane, where police said Vinson fatally shot Keith Lamont Scott in the parking lot of a University City apartment complex Tuesday afternoon.
Police said they had been searching for someone who had an outstanding warrant at The Village at College Downs complex on Old Concord Road when they saw Scott leave his car.
Officers approached Scott after he got back into the car. He emerged from the car with a firearm “and posed an imminent deadly threat to the officers, who subsequently fired their weapon striking the subject,” police said in a statement. “The officers immediately requested Medic and began performing CPR.”