'Don't shoot!' wife tells Charlotte police in video

The moment North Carolina police shot a black man was captured on video by his wife, who can be heard pleading with officers: "Don't shoot him!"

In the footage, Rakeyia Scott tells husband Keith Scott to get out of his car as Charlotte police surround him.

The clip does not show the actual shooting, or make clear if Mr Scott was carrying a gun, as police say.

Officers can be heard urging him to "drop the gun" but his wife is heard telling them he is unarmed.

On Friday evening, a few hundred protesters took to the streets, but the demonstrations was smaller than on the previous three nights.

They chanted "No justice, no peace" and "Release the video" - a call for the police to release their dash-cam and body-cam images of the incident.

The state governor has declared a state of emergency in the city, and a midnight curfew has been imposed for a second night running, after rioters looted businesses and threw objects at police on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

• Spreading the peace in North Carolina

• Charlotte race riots years in the making

• US shootings: Five ways to rebuild trust

• Charlotte shooting: Unanswered questions

Unnamed police sources told local media and CNN a gun found at the scene was loaded and had Mr Scott's fingerprints and DNA on it. But the police have said nothing officially.

Charlotte city leaders have been under mounting pressure to release their footage of this week's shooting.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton joined the chorus, adding: "We must ensure justice and work to bridge divides."

Mrs Clinton's campaign team had said she would visit Charlotte on Sunday, but later announced the visit was being postponed until the following Sunday after discussion with community leaders "as to not impact the city's resources".

In the clip, an officer is heard shouting: "Hands up!"

Mrs Scott cries: "Don't shoot him. Don't shoot him. He has no weapon. He has no weapon. Don't shoot him."

An officer says: "Don't shoot. Drop the gun. Drop the [expletive] gun."

Mrs Scott says: "He doesn't have a gun. He has a TBI [Traumatic Brain Injury]. He just took his medicine."

Family lawyers have previously said Mr Scott suffered head trauma in a car accident last year.

Mrs Scott is then heard shouting "Keith, don't do it!" It is unclear what she is referring to.

Seconds later shots ring out, and Mrs Scott rushes forward shouting: "Did you shoot him? He better not be [expletive] dead!"

The incident occurred in the car park of an apartment complex where police who were searching for another person. The officer who fatally shot the 43-year-old father-of-seven was identified as Brently Vinson, who is also African-American.

There are conflicting accounts of his death - police say he was armed and that a pistol was recovered at the scene; his family says he was holding a book.

Mr Scott's mother, Vernita Scott Walker, told South Carolina broadcaster WCSC he was probably reading the Koran.

She said he read the Islamic holy book every day, often while waiting for his son to get off the bus.

"That's what he was reading because he loved to read that book," said Ms Scott Walker.

At a press conference on Friday, officials defended their refusal to release body-cam and dash-cam video of the shooting.

Keith Lamont Scott (L) and Officer Brently Vinson (R)

Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts told reporters: "I do believe the video should be released - the question is on the timing."

She said the video was "inconclusive" as to whether Mr Scott was holding a gun.

City Police Chief Kerr Putney said the video alone does not provide sufficient evidence of probable cause for the shooting.

Releasing it without "context" could only inflame the situation, he added.

Critics have accused Charlotte authorities of a lack of transparency, compared with the swift action taken after a police shooting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where a white officer has been charged.

Charlotte police said they arrested a suspect in Wednesday's fatal shooting of a protester, Justin Carr, in in the city.

The alleged gunman was identified as Rayquan Borum.