Walter Scott shooting: Family asks Al Sharpton to stay away

The divisive reverend was a mainstay in the Ferguson protests

(Getty Images)

The family of Walter Scott, the man gunned down last weekend by a South Carolina police officer, has asked the Rev. Al Sharpton to stay away from the funeral, which is scheduled for Saturday, the New York Daily News reported.

Mr Sharpton, the controversial civil-rights activist, was an almost constant figure last year in Ferguson, Missouri after 18-year-old black man Michael Brown was shot and killed by white police officer Darren Wilson.

The reverend spoke at Mr Brown’s funeral, garnering a rousing response. But the Scott family has said that’s the last thing they want.

“We don’t want another Ferguson type of circus here,” a family source told the Daily News.

Mr Sharpton said he has spoken with the Scott family and said he was not planning to come to the funeral unless he was asked. The family has thanked him for his support since the shooting.

Mr Sharpton will be in North Charleston - where the shooting took place - on Sunday, however, to preach at the Charity Missionary Baptist Church.

Mr Scott was killed last weekend after what started as a routine traffic stop took a turn for the tragic. A video released earlier this week shows Mr Scott running away from Officer Michael Slager, who fires eight shots that end up killing the fleeing man.

Before the video was released, Mr Slager claimed that he used deadly force because Mr Scott had taken his taser. The video makes it clear that Mr Scott did not have a taser in his hand and was fleeing when he was shot.

Mr Slager was fired from the North Charleston Police Department and has been charged with murder.

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