Police in South Carolina have released body camera video of officers fatally shooting a handcuffed black man they said was wielding a gun ...
Police in South Carolina have released body camera video of officers fatally shooting a handcuffed black man they said was wielding a gun in a Walmart parking lot.
Ariane Lamont McCree, 28, was shot and killed by police outside a Walmart in Chester back in November.
Footage of the fatal shooting has only just been released after the incident sparked protests and community unrest in the small South Carolina city.
McCree was handcuffed at the time of the shooting after being detained on suspicion of shoplifting.
Ariane Lamont McCree, 28, was shot and killed by police outside a Walmart in Chester, South Carolina back in November. Footage of the fatal shooting has only just been released after the incident sparked protests and community unrest in the small South Carolina city
The South Carolina attorney general's office said in a March that the officers - Nicholas Harris and Justin Baker - had acted in self-defense and that McCree pulled a gun on police as he was fleeing the shoplifting arrest.
The bodycam video shows an officer with his gun drawn approaching McCree from across the parking lot.
The officers were later filmed removing a gun from McCree's body.
Shell casings from the scene show that officers fired at least two dozen times, according to a police report obtained by The Post & Courier through an open records request.
There was no evidence that McCree fired his gun.
The video shows that McCree was at least eight cars away from the officers when they started firing.
McCree was handcuffed at the time of the shooting after being detained on suspicion of shoplifting. The South Carolina attorney general's office said in a March that the officers acted in self-defense after McCree pulled a gun on police as he was fleeing the shoplifting arrest
Shell casings from the scene show that officers fired at least two dozen times, according to a police report. The bodycam video shows an officer with his gun drawn approaching McCree from across the parking lot. The officers were later filmed removing a gun from McCree's body (pictured above)
Mullins McLeod, a Charleston attorney who has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the police department on behalf of McCree's family, has said there is no way he could have aimed a gun at officers with his hands cuffed behind his back.
McCree's family maintain the video shows that the handcuffed man was not a threat to officers.
They criticized officials for waiting more than six months to release the video.
Charlie Stringfellow, McCree's grandfather, took issue with the use of force after an alleged shoplifting incident.
'If it's true, it's not worth his life,' Stringfellow said.
The footage doesn't capture the whole incident because the bodycam was only switched on as the shooting unfolded.
South Carolina's Attorney General Alan Wilson declined to press charges back in March following the investigation.
Ariane Lamont McCree, 28, (above) was shot and killed by police outside a Walmart in Chester back in November
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