Charlotte drew the eyes of the nation this week after a police-involved shooting placed the North Carolina city in the middle of a raging debate over law enforcement in minority communities.

Much of this attention has fallen upon the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, as it investigates the circumstances leading up to the death of Keith Lamont Scott, 43, on Tuesday. Police say Scott was armed and the shooting appeared to be justified; Scott’s family disputes this.

The department swiftly identified the officer who shot and killed Scott as Brentley Vinson, 26, and placed him on administrative leave.

The deadly encounter sparked riots and violent protests and became a focal point for outrage from the Black Lives Matter movement, which broadly accuses officers of using excessive force against black men.

But in a twist from many of the police-involved shootings that have led to demonstrations, both the officer and the slain man in Charlotte are African-American.

Now Vinson has been placed in the national spotlight.

The 35-minute audio recording, as described in a Maryland courtroom Thursday, was horrifying. “Hold her down,” a young man said. The voice belonged to Cecil Burrows, 23, who was sentenced to 18 months in jail for his role in what prosecutors described as a gang rape of a nearly comatose woman in a townhouse in the Montgomery County community of Olney. Burrows not only recorded the rape, he called out instructions. “Cecil, he like a coach,” one of the attackers could be heard saying. Authorities have said the victim was probably drunk or drugged during the assault. The sentencing of Burrows concludes a case that stretched over four years. It involved a once-menacing gang named Little R and at ...

A man who was filmed repeatedly throwing his 3-year-old step-daughter into a swimming pool, causing her to drown, has been jailed for 100 years. Surveillance footage showed the man, identified only as Jose David N., throwing the small child into the water at a hotel in the city of Morelia, in Michoacan, Mexico, in August 2015. Sign up to our daily newsletter for up to date global news and features. She is seen battling to keep herself afloat, while her step-father stands watching at the side of the pool doing nothing. At times, he holds her underwater and teases her by throwing a float into the water, just out of her reach. The incident took place on August 12, 2015, while the little girl’s mother ...

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A zookeeper screamed for help into her radio before she was fatally attacked by a Malayan tiger, but the 350-pound animal crushed her neck before her co-workers could reach her, an autopsy report released Friday showed.

The Palm Beach County medical examiner determined that Stacey Konwiser, 38, died of a fractured spine, a lacerated jugular and other neck injuries suffered when she was attacked on April 15 by the tiger named Hati.

The male tiger, then 12 years old, had been at the zoo for two years on loan from the zoo in Fort Worth, Texas.

Konwiser had entered the tigers' night house, an area where they eat and sleep that is not visible to the public, to prepare for a presentation.

The report by medical examiner investigator Aleita J. Kinman says the tiger's cage was supposed to be locked, but it was open, and Konwiser's view of the animal may have been blocked by a large box inside the enclosure.

Hearing her screams, Konwiser's co-workers rushed to the tiger exhibit and found the tiger standing over her body.

Zoo officials have defended their decision not to shoot the rare tiger, saying they feared a bullet could strike Konwiser or further enrage Hati if it didn't kill him instantly.

Instead, they tried unsuccessfully to lure him into a cage before shooting him with a tranquilizer dart. Paramedics were able to reach her 17 minutes after the attack. She was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead.

No cameras were operating in the area of the attack. Officials have said they are only used to monitor breeding efforts, so were turned off.

There are only about 300 adult Malayan tigers in the wild and they are considered endangered.

Zoo officials didn't immediately return a call Friday seeking comment. Investigative reports on the attack by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are pending.

Konwiser had worked at the Palm Beach Zoo for three years after working at the Palm Springs, California, zoo.

Konwiser had given notice that she had accepted a job with the Food and Drug Administration, but the zoo had offered to match her salary and give her new responsibilities in an effort to keep her. She had not given a decision. Her husband, Jeremy, is a Palm Beach Zoo employee.