Video of a police shooting outside a South Carolina Walmart was released on Monday — seven months after Ariane Lamont McCree, 28, was shot dead by a police officer.
Two officers responded to a call about a shoplifter at a Chester Walmart in November 2019. When police arrived, McCree, who was handcuffed by a store security guard, had escaped and was making his way through the parking lot trying to find his car.
McCree’s hands were still cuffed behind his back when he was shot dead by a police officer.
The shooting sparked public protests and calls for the officers to be fired.
The Post and Courier newspaper obtained the video footage through an Open Records request.
The video, which has no audio, shows McCree coming out from behind a car when the officer fired three times from at least 8 car lengths away.
The officer approached McCree and appears to remove a gun from the front of McCree’s waistband.
The attorney general determined the officers — Nicholas Harris and Justin Baker — had acted in self-defense — despite the fact that McCree’s hands were cuffed behind his back and the gun was found in his front waistband.
The police have not yet explained how McCree could have reached the gun with his hands cuffed behind his back.
“Do they think people are stupid enough to believe a story that ridiculous?” writes Nicole Marie on YouTube.com.
“So he was going to his car HANDCUFFED to get a gun he already had then come back in the store walking backwards with the gun pointed to shoot someone???” writes YouTube user Kenneth Stone.
