This is what I've been able to piece together from this case. It definitely leaves me with some questions. I am not in ANY way condoning the spreading of false narratives, smearing of officers, rioting before any facts are known, or any other act of violence or intimidation.
I am not going to rehash the facts you all know, and especially the ones not in dispute. However, early in the investigation the police made mention of Scott leaving his car, then returning to his car, prior to their confronting him. I am wondering if this is possibly when they observed his weapon. I have heard unsubstantiated rumors that he had possibly gotten out of the car because he asked his wife to bring him his cell phone charger. I know his daughter said he was reading "a book," and some have said the Koran, but to me it is possible that was just a mis-statement and he was reading on his phone - I do it all the time. That would make sense as to why he needed the charger, if that is in fact what happened.
I have watched the tapes, as I am sure all of you have. I cannot tell if he has something in his hand or not. When he is on the ground it does sound like the one officer says something about "he's holding it" and "right hand" and then another says "I have the gun." That would support the idea that it was in his hand. On the other hand, that one picture that shows the gun on the ground, where the officer later seems to be standing over it, in that picture, the gun is very near where the ankle holster would have been. It would make sense if removing something from an ankle holster that is where it might end up.
It also looks to me like the officer who shot was positioned somewhere to the left of the car that shot the dashcam footage. I think that is significant in that it is possible that he would have been closer to Mr. Scott than it looks like we are when we watch the video. I think that is significant in thinking about what the level of perceived threat would have been for a "reasonable" officer in that situation, which is the legal standard.
My concern is that the careful wording used in the police statement is "armed with a handgun." They use those specific words twice. I am not sure whether or not that means had it in his hand, or just had it in his posession, as in maybe holstered. He still should have complied when asked to disarm. But I would have liked more specific wording. I am also concerned about the marijuana and whether the officers really knew about that before or after the fact. Maybe they did but there is also the possibility that they didn't and just got a lucky break afterwards. There is also a point after the shooting when the guy who seems like the "lead" officer asks (I think) the one kneeling across from him "Are you on?" and the other says "I don't know." Either both of those guys weren't on, or we haven't seen their footage yet, but I wonder why he asked about it. Too many questions still for me to say I know what happened.
Apparently there was a shooting of an unarmed black man in El Cajon today and that story is picking up some steam. The man is said to have been acting erratically. However, his sister is on video and clearly distraught saying she is actually the one who called officers to come and help him because he wasn't acting right. I have seen on Twitter that he was epileptic, although I did not hear the sister say that, and I know it's hard sometimes to sort out fact from rumor in these cases. Still, this seems pretty troubling to me, as the police confirm he was unarmed, and they were called out to help him. I wish sometimes that the activists would not just react on purely racial grounds, but would hold their fire (bad choice of words, I know), for those cases, regardless of race, that are clearly problematic. The El Cajon case looks like it may well turn out to be one of those.