Police body-camera video footage released Tuesday shows a Charlotte man — shot and killed by police last year after robbing a grocery store — was walking away from officers while holding a gun. Just moments before, video shows, he’d grabbed the gun from his waist as officers approached him on a sidewalk.
The footage aligns with what the District Attorney found in reviewing the deadly shooting case and contradicts a part of what Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officials said after the shooting.
CMPD previously said officers fired at Kevin Eugene Boston after he first shot at them. The DA decided officers would not criminally charged in the shooting. Multiple commands for Boston to drop his weapon were ignored, video shows.
On Tuesday, CMPD acknowledged the discrepancy saying in a news statement: “The initial information released by CMPD following the incident stated that the suspect fired upon officers first, after which officers returned fire. At the conclusion of the investigation, CMPD cannot definitively state that the suspect fired first. However, this does not change the fact that officers perceived an imminent lethal threat and acted appropriately to defend their lives and the lives of others in the area.”
Kevin Boston shot, killed by police
According to an investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation, Officer Erik Torres fired 11 shots at Boston, and Officer Richard Meyer fired two shots, officials have said.
The DA and police investigation, which included review of video footage and other evidence, showed Boston did fire his gun at police. The DA concluded he was returning fire.
Boston had reportedly flashed his handgun while leaving without paying for a “whole shopping cart load” of Food Lion groceries June 26, according to a newly released 911 call.
Torres and Meyer found Boston walking a sidewalk near the store’s Tuckaseegee Road location. He was carrying two reusable bags filled with groceries when Torres approached him.
Body-cam footage shows Boston quickly reached for his front right pocket, where the 911 caller and employee said he had his gun. Torres immediately pulled his gun and ran for coverage behind a CMPD police car, video shows.
Neither officer remembered whether Torres or Boston shot first, they told investigators later.
Boston later died of six gunshot wounds, according to his autopsy report.
Boston, 45, was a single father of three children, ages 13, 14 and 18.
Mario Black, his cousin, and Billie Black, Boston’s sister-in-law, say he was a family man. The two spoke to the media after the shooting and advocated for an investigation into what led up to the incident, how it could have been handled, and the release of the body camera footage.
Boston struggled with mental health issues and has had interactions with CMPD in the past, his family said.
So far his family has not responded to additional requests for comment on CMPD’s decision not to discipline the officers involved.