Sharpton praises response to fatal police shooting

North Charleston, S.C.

Sharpton praises response to fatal police shooting

During a sermon at a North Charleston church, the Rev. Al Sharpton said Sunday that swift action taken by a white mayor and police chief in the South could set the tone for handling future questions of police misconduct across the country. "It's not about black and white. It's about right and wrong," Sharpton said at Charity Missionary Baptist Church. The tone of the local community's response to the shooting death of Walter Scott, 50, has been different than other instances of unarmed black men being fatally shot by white police officers, including the violent demonstrations from people in Ferguson, Mo., after Michael Brown's death. The white officer who shot Scott as he fled a traffic stop on April 4, Michael Slager, 33, was fired and has been charged with murder.

Tulsa, Okla.

Video shows killing of black suspect

Authorities have released video showing the fatal encounter of a black suspect with a white reserve sheriff's deputy who police said thought he was holding a stun gun instead of his handgun when he shot the man during a recent arrest in Tulsa. The video of the April 2 incident was recorded by deputies. It shows a Tulsa County deputy chase and tackle Eric Harris, 44, whom they had accused of trying to sell an illegal gun to an undercover officer. A deputy is heard telling Harris, "I need you to roll on your stomach." At about the same time, a woman is heard in the background saying, "Stop fighting." While the deputy is trying to subdue Harris on the ground, a gunshot rings out and a man says, "Oh, I shot him. I'm sorry." Authorities have identified the shooter as Robert Bates, a 73-year-old reserve deputy, and said that he meant to use his stun gun.

Cleveland

3-year-old shoots, kills 1-year-old boy

A 3-year-old boy picked up an unattended gun inside a home and it went off, shooting a 1-year-old boy in the head and killing him Sunday afternoon, police said. Cleveland police Chief Calvin Williams said investigators were trying to determine where the gun came from. Emergency workers said the 1-year-old was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. Full details about the shooting on the city's east side weren't released, but Williams said at least one adult was home when it happened. "It's a sad day for Cleveland," he told reporters outside the home. "This fascination that we have with handguns, not just in this city but in this country, has to stop. This is a senseless loss of life." Neighbors told the Cleveland.com news website that the mother lived in the house with at least three small children.

Times wires

Protesters wave a Brazilian flag with a cartoon of President Dilma Rousseff at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. For the second time in a month, protesters across Brazil urged her impeachment amid an economic slowdown and bribery scandals.