The NAACP leader in Charlotte says it's irrelevant whether Keith Scott, who was shot by police, was carrying a gun.
"I think the most important part is the contrast of him having a book versus a gun. But in my mind and in most of the community's mind, it really doesn't matter if he had a gun," Corine Mack told CNN's Carol Costello.
Scott was seen entering a vehicle with a handgun. He was surrounded by police, then killed after he exited the car and refused orders to drop his weapon, according to police chief Kerr Putney. Street protests and violence erupted afterward.
Videos apparently showed that Scott was not carrying a weapon, and his family said he was carrying a book, not a gun. Putney said there was "no doubt" that Scott had a gun.
Mack added it was the responsibility of the police to manage the situation better. "At the end of the day, we have the right under the Second Amendment to carry here in North Carolina. And [the police's] responsibility was to engage him in a more deescalated way, to find out if he had a permit for his gun and allow him to go on his merry way and he would still be living today. That's not what happened."
The video does not automatically mean Scott was guilty of a crime, said Mack, and "I don't want anyone to walk away from this conversation today thinking that a video showing he had a gun in any way says that he was guilty of anything."
Mack appeared later on CNN's "New Day" program and said the "police department rushes to judgment, and I think that, many times, African-Americans are demonized, when, in fact, they are the victims. And I think we all need to step back and wait for a complete investigation."
As to whether the NAACP leader believes the police when they say he had a gun, not a book — Mack said, "I can't, at this point."