Walter Scott shooting: South Carolina officer fired, charged with murder

Awhite police officer who claimed he killed a black man in self-defence has been fired and charged with murder after a bystander's video recorded him firing eight shots at the man's back as he ran away. Government authorities sought to contain the outcry as protests began over the latest death of an unarmed black man at the hands of U.S. law enforcement agents.

The video, provided to the dead man's family and lawyer by an unidentified person who shot the footage, shows officer Michael ThomasSlagerdropping his stun gun, pulling out his handgun and firing at Walter Lamer Scott from a distance as he runs away. The 50-year-old man falls after the eighth shot, fired after a brief pause.

The shooting in North Charleston, South Carolina's third-largest city, came amid an ongoing nationwide debate over issues of trust between law enforcement and minoritycommunities.

• Walter Scott shooting: Police officer faces murder charge in death of black man

Slager has been fired, but the town will continue to pay for his health insurance because his wife is eight months pregnant, said North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey, who called it a tragedy for two families.

Summey also said he's ordered body cameras to be worn by every single officer on the force.

Police Chief Eddie Diggers said he was "sickened" by what he saw on the video, but his explanations at a news conference were repeatedly interrupted by shouts of "no justice, no peace!" and other hard questions that he said he couldn't answer. The mayor then took back the podium and threatened to close the news conference.

FBI opens own investigation

The FBI and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division have opened their own investigation.

Earlier, about 75 people gathered outside City Hall in North Charleston, led by a Black Lives Matter, a group formed after the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Protests, some violent, erupted in many cities last year following Brown's death and the chokehold death of Eric Garner in New York City. The furor grew after separate grand juries declined to indict the white officers who killed the unarmed black men.

In South Carolina, authorities said Scott was shot after Slager had already hit the man with a stun gun after a traffic stop Saturday that began over a faulty brake light.

'My heart can't take this no more'

9 years ago

Duration 2:11

Protester speaks passionately at rally outside South Carolina police station after black man shot by police

Slager, who has been with the North Charleston police for five years, could face 30 years to life in prison, if convicted.

Scott's parents appeared separately on TV shows Wednesday morning.

'The most horrible thing I've ever seen'

Walter Scott Sr. told the NBC Today Showthat his son may have run because he owed child support, which can lead to jail time in South Carolina.

Scott Sr. said that in the video, the officer "looked like he was trying to kill a deer running through the woods."

Judy Scott called the video "the most horrible thing I've ever seen."

"I almost couldn't look at it to see my son running defencelessly, being shot. It just tore my heart to pieces," she said on ABC's Good Morning America.

Attorneys for the family said the man who shot the video is assisting investigators. The person has not been identified.

L. Chris Stewart, an attorney for Scott's family, said the video forced authorities to act quickly and decisively. "What if there was no video? What if there was no witness, or hero as I call him, to come forward?" asked Stewart.

Slager's thenattorney David Aylor had released a statement Monday saying the officer felt threatened and that Scott was trying to grab Slager's stun gun. Aylor dropped Slager as a client after the video surfaced.

The footage shows Scott falling after the shots and then the officer slowly walking toward Scott and ordering the man to put his hands behind his back. When Scott doesn't move, Slager pulls his arms back and cuffs his hands. Then he walks briskly back to where he fired the shots, picks up an object, and returns back to Scott before dropping the object by Scott's feet, the video shows.

Scott had four children, was engaged and had no violent offences on his record, Stewart said.

WARNING: This video contains graphic content