A Game-Changing Document Has Surfaced About Keith Lamont Scott That's Exploding the Charlotte Shooting Narrative

The Keith Lamont Scott shooting has been an emotionally charged case made that much more incendiary by the release of video footage from his wife that added uncertainty about whether or not he had a gun, as was argued by police.

Scott, who suffered a traumatic brain injury following a near-death motorcycle crash in 2015, has been reported by his neighbors to walk around his neighborhood with "a cane and a book in his hand."

This is perfect narrative-setting of the "Gentle Giant" variety, and when a news publication engages in such deliberate framing by appeal to emotion, that's exactly when Americans need to demand facts.

Now a document has surfaced that brings further clarification to what police officers were asked to respond to at the scene of the tragic shooting.

As the Gaston Gazette reported, Scott's wife obtained a temporary restraining order about a year prior to the fatal incident:

On Oct. 5, a Gaston County District Court judge granted his wife a temporary restraining order. The court order told Scott not to go near his wife, three of their children and the children’s schools.

He was not allowed near their Gastonia apartment they’d called home since April 2014, according to court documents. He was told to turn over a black 9mm handgun he owned illegally.

Further details about the restraining order, which was eventually lifted:

Eleven days later, Rakeyia Scott voluntarily dismissed the order against her husband, writing, “He is no longer a threat to me and my family.”

But three days before she got the order, Keith Scott had kicked her, punched their 8-year-old in the head three times and threatened to kill her with the gun, she had written.

“He said he is a ‘killer’ and we should know that,” she wrote.

She said the man she’d been married to since she was 18 did not have a gun permit and was a felon, having been incarcerated from April 2004 to April 2011.

She checked a box saying her husband had threatened her with the gun before.

This is narrative-destroying stuff: Scott's wife said her husband is a felon, that he is a "killer," he had punched their 8-year-old in the head three times, and threatened her with a gun.

As BuzzFeed News reported further about the stolen gun:

The gun recovered at the scene of Keith Lamont Scott’s shooting was stolen, then later sold to the 43-year-old, multiple media outlets reported.

According to WSOC, the gun was reported stolen after a burglary. The suspect in that case — who has not been identified — reportedly told officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) that he then sold the gun to Scott.

The suspect in the burglary case is in custody, WTVD reported.

It is certainly a tragedy what happened to Keith Lamont Scott, and it very may well be that his traumatic brain injury contributed to his death. But another thing that is a tragedy in this country is a news media too eager to push incendiary narratives—even to the point that people are rioting and destroying their own communities—in the absence of all of the facts.

This is journalism in the twenty-first century. First, comes the media narrative. Sensational, explosive, always reinforcing the progressive narrative that America is unjust and the people have a right, no, an obligation, to protest.

Then comes the social outrage, and if the issue strikes enough of a raw nerve, the rioting. Thousands take to the streets, armed with media misinformation and false impressions that reinforce their belief that they are on the side of right.

Image Credit: Brian Blanco/Getty Images

Then, after the smoke clears and the rebuilding of shattered communities begins, after the news outlets have packed up the video equipment and writers have bundled up their laptops, come the facts.

As Mrs. Scott's restraining order, as well as the news about Keith Scott's stolen weapon reveals, police officers should at least be given some benefit of the doubt that a case is not as clear-cut as might be believed from a solitary, explosive video.

Editor's Note: This article was updated after publishing.