Investigators: S.C. police shooting was suspicious before video emerged

State investigators in South Carolina suspected foul play in the police shooting of Walter Scott even before they obtained a cellphone video of the incident.

“We believed early on that there was something not right about what happened in that encounter,” South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) Chief Mark Keel said. “The cellphone video shot by a bystander confirmed our initial suspicions.”

Officer Michael Slager pulled over Scott on Saturday in what appeared to be a routine traffic stop for a broken taillight. SLED released video from the dashboard camera in Slager’s car showing him approach Scott’s vehicle, ask for his license and registration, and walk back to the patrol car. Scott later inexplicably gets out of his car and starts running away.

A short time later, Feidin Santana saw Slager chasing Scott. With his cellphone, Santana recorded Slager shooting Scott in the back. What happened between the time Slager and Scott ran out of the dashboard camera’s frame and Santana started filming remains unknown. Slager was arrested Tuesday and charged with murder in Scott’s death.

Scott owed thousands of dollars in child support and had previously served jail time for not paying. Conflicting reports have surfaced over whether there was a warrant out for his arrest, but his family speculated he might have fled over fear of going to jail again.

In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday night, Scott’s mother, Judy Scott, talked about how her faith in God is sustaining her through her grief over her son’s death.

“I’m supposed to be really angry and upset and raging and all that, but I can’t because of the love of God in me,” she said. “I feel forgiveness in my heart, even for the guy that shot and killed my son.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.