With protests gaining steam, the city of North Charleston is trying to stay aggressive in its reaction to a white police officer's fatal shooting of an unarmed black man: Officer Michael Slager, who already has been charged with murder, has been fired from the force, the mayor said today. Mayor Keith Summey also announced that every police officer in the city will wear body cameras from now on, reports the Post and Courier. "I have watched the video and was sickened by what I saw," said Police Chief Eddie Diggers of footage of the shooting taken by a bystander. As he spoke at a press conference, the AP reports that protesters interrupted him with chants of "no justice, no peace."
"It looked like he was trying to kill a deer or something, running through the woods," Walter Scott Sr., father of the slain Walter Scott, tells NBC. Though Slager has been fired, the city will continue to pay his health insurance for a while because his wife is eight months' pregnant. Meanwhile, the Daily Beast reports that the attorney who initially represented Slager dropped him as a client as soon as video emerged of the shooting—but he's leaving it for others to connect the dots. "I can't specifically state what is the reason why or what isn't the reason why I'm no longer his lawyer," says David Aylor. "All I can say is that the same day of the discovery of the video that was disclosed publicly, I withdrew as counsel immediately." (More South Carolina stories.)