Hundreds gathered in Southeast D.C. Sunday night demanding justice in the death of Alaunte Scott, the 22-year-old shot and killed by two U.S. marshals.
Authorities said Scott pulled out a gun before he was shot on Feb. 28 in the 4300 Block of 3rd Street SE as they attempted to arrest him for an outstanding warrant.
“We shouldn’t be here tonight, and unfortunately, this just keeps happening,” Tiffany Curry-Stewart, Scott’s aunt, said.
The U.S. marshals were trying to take Scott into custody for a parole violation, and documents obtained by News4 show he had had run-ins with the law in the past, including being wanted for vehicle theft.
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“I knew he did not mean to make mistakes. He didn’t want to make a lot of mistakes even though he did. But, Alaunte was a loving person,” Curry-Stewart said.
In a news conference Tuesday, D.C. police Chief Robert Contee said Scott ran away from the marshals trying to arrest him, and later “produced” a weapon. The family disputes that claim, but police said they did recover a gun from the scene.
Though authorities have not provided details on the shooting, Scott’s mother said, “they shot my son seven times, in his back and in his side.”
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Loved ones added that Scott was trying to turn his life around, and was at one point a part of Pathways, a program in D.C. that helps at-risk members of the community find employment.
“He was trying. It wasn’t a situation where we were dealing with someone that wasn’t there,” his mentor, Fernando Smith, said. “Every program that we gave to him, he fulfilled it.”
Community members plan on protesting outside D.C. Superior Court on Monday morning as they continue to plea for transparency.
“We want to get to the bottom of why Alaunte was preyed upon and murdered by the United States marshals,” Curry-Stewart said.
The investigation is now in the hands of the Metropolitan Police Department’s force investigation unit. Services for Scott will be held on Saturday.
