Unanswered Questions About Deadly Officer-Involved Shooting

CHARLOTTE, NC. — A lot of unanswered questions about a deadly officer-involved shooting in Northwest Charlotte. What we do know is that we’ve seen the only body camera video of what happened.

Police Chief Kerr Putney says he won’t discuss whether the second officer at the scene either didn’t have his camera on — or it didn’t work – but we know: there is no video from that other officer’s camera.

Tuesday, people packed a community meeting to ask more questions about what happened.

The very first question at Stonewall AME Zion Church was addressed to Chief Putney and Mayor Vi Lyles:

“Why haven’t you guys, one of you considered stepping down,” says Minister Shawn Elliott Richardson.

The minister says he doesn’t feel safe in Charlotte under heir leadership, after watching the body camera video of 27-year-old Danquirs Franklin being shot and killed.

“I’ll never quit, I can be fired but I’ll never quit. Our jobs are done,” says Chief Putney.

CMPD leaders explained to the crowd the process of the two types of investigations that happen after an officer-involved shooting: administrative and criminal. Then the legal standard around use of lethal force, the meaning of imminent threat and how officers are trained in deescalation.

Putney says the department is reviewing tactics and policies.

“We can train all day long but when there’s an armed encounter it’s much more difficult to deescalate that situation unless we have time distance, cooperation and communication.”