CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Protestors who gathered at Marshall Park in Uptown believe police are more aggressive when they’re dealing with black and brown people across the city.
“They were asking him to drop the weapon or whatever. And it just seemed like when he was motioning to do it is when he got shot,” said Kass Ottley with Charlotte Uprising.
She is one of many protestors angered by the deadly police shooting of 27-year-old Danquirs Franklin.
It happened outside a North Charlotte Burger King last month.
CMPD released body camera footage Monday. Police Chief Kerr Putney told reporters it was hard to watch.
“I hope you’ll do what we’re doing and pray for Ms. Franklin and her family, pray for our officers whose lives have been destroyed as well,” he said.
Dozens of protestors marched to Marshall Park Monday night — speaking out on violence and excessive use of force they believe is disproportionately used on people of color.
“If we can take active white shooters, we should be able to de-escalate situations where black and brown people are involved and not automatically go to deadly force,” Ottley said.
Jarvis Massei, another protestor, expressed how they believe the same thing keeps happening.
“We march and we picket signs and we yell out things and the same thing continues to keep happening over and over in our community,” Massei said.
They also discussed the near 40 homicides across the Queen City so far this year.
Protestors said it is time to tackle the underlying issues facing many communities of color such as unemployment and poorly funded schools.
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