Protests over Keith Lamont Scott's death expected to continue at Charlotte's Panthers-Vikings game

Police deploy to the Bank of America stadium in Charlotte
(Image credit: Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

Charlotte city officials say they are planning extra security for the Carolina Panthers vs. Minnesota Vikings game their city will host Sunday, because protests over the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott are expected to move to the Bank of America Stadium. The city has labeled the game an "extraordinary event," a category which permits police to ban backpacks in the stadium as well as items like box cutters and chains that might be used as weapons.

Protesters took to the streets for a fifth night on Saturday after the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released dash and body camera footage depicting Scott's death. The video does not settle the issue of whether Scott had a gun or whether he was holding it while interacting with officers, a major point of contention between police and the Scott family.

"There is no definitive evidence in this video as to whether or not there is an object in his hand, and if there is, what that object is," said an attorney for Scott's family, Justin Bamberg. "But what we do know is that the moment Mr. Scott is shot, it appears as though he's not aggressively moving toward law enforcement; he's actually doing the opposite. He's passively stepping back."

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Some protesters have expressed hope that an NFL player, like the Panthers' Cam Newton, who has spoken on race-related issues in the past, might declare his support for the rally at the stadium.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.