Charlotte protests: Friends and neighbours set up makeshift memorial for black man shot dead by police

Keith Lamont Scott enjoyed sitting in his car.

In the mornings, he would park outside his house. But in the afternoon he would move the white Ford Expedition to the shade of nearby pine tree and wait for his daughter to return from school. He walked with a cane, but either he, or his wife, made sure they were there every day.

This fixed routine on Tuesday placed the 43-year-old at the right place at the wrong time. Officers from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, seeking to issue a warrant on another individual, approached Mr Scott after claiming to have seen a weapon in his possession.

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They shouted at him to get out of the vehicle and drop his weapon, said neighbours, before a series of shots rang out and Mr Scott fell to the floor. When his daughter later clambered off the yellow school bus, she encountered a taped-off crime scene and the news that her father was dead.

The shooting of Mr Scott and the disputed nature of what happened – the police insist he was carrying a gun, while his family said he did not have one – has triggered angry protests in Charlotte, which on Tuesday and Wednesday turned violent. It has also drawn attention to the seemingly endless stream of incidents in which black and minority suspects lose their lives at the hands of American police officers.

As officials began an inquiry into the death of Mr Scott, the US Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, urged for calm and understanding. She said she was sending members of the Department of Justice to Charlotte to offer assistance.

Mr Scott lived in a suburban community called The Village at College Grounds. The complex of homes and apartment buildings is about ten miles east from the glimmering towers and offices of Charlotte, which in the past two decades has become famous as a centre for banking, education and sport.

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Kendall Reynolds, 24, a neighbour, said he heard shouts, and then the shots, as he was walking his dog. He ran over and saw Mr Scott on the floor, his head moving up and down.

“I feel like ‘scared’ is too easy a word,” he said. “I saw a neighbour lose his life on my doorstep.”

On Thursday, as people from across the state came to pay their respects for Mr Scott and sign a condolence book at a makeshift memorial set up where he died, his friends and neighbours spoke of their pain and anger.

“He was a good guy. This place is full of kids and lots of parents in this place just let the kids run wild. But Keith would be watching out for all of them,” said one neighbour who asked not to be named. He said he had spoken with Mr Scott for 30 minutes on Monday evening.

It was their mutual pleasure to stand on their respective stoops and smoke a cigarette, he said.

“He may have had a gun. I have three. This is not the safest place in the world,” said the neighbour. “But do you really think he would have been playing with a gun while he was waiting for his daughter?”

Another neighour, Amir, said he worked nights and slept during the day. He was woken by the sound of gun shots on Tuesday and learned what had happened. “I heard them shouting ‘Drop the gun, drop the gun’,” he said. “Then there were four bullets. After that, it settled on me what had happened.”

Didier Kapanda, had just collected his son from the bus on Thursday afternoon. He said he regularly saw Mr Scott waiting for his own children. “I’m very angry at this,” he said. Mr Kapanda, who is black, said he did not believe his neighbour would have been killed if he were white.

Mr Scott had a criminal record. In 2004, he was charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Most of the charges were dropped and he pleaded guilty to a single, lesser offence.

His friends and neighbours believe the police, and others, are seeking to tarnish his record to distract from what has happened. “He had a history. But that was a long time ago,” said the neighbour who asked not be named.

For a number of years, Mr Scott worked for an insurance firm and represented other employees in negotiations with management. More recently he suffered a motorcycle accident that left him with an injured jaw, and trouble walking. It meant he could not work.

Annette Alexander worked with Mr Scott when he was a security guard in the nearby town of Gastonia. On Thursday, she signed her name in the condolence book.

“He was pleasant and respectful,” she said. “He said ‘hello’ and did his job.”

Another woman, who gave her name as Meka, was picking up her children from the bus. She said she parked next to Mr Scott almost every afternoon.

“This is our spot. This is the bus stop,” she said, as another bus stopped and more children got off.

Meka, who is black, said she knew Mr Scott as a decent man, and was angered by the image some media was painting of him. She said she had moved to the neighborhood for the benefit of her children, but now she was both scared and angry.

“Why could you not ask questions?” she said of the police officers who approached Mr Scott. “You had to open fire?”