A second night of race-related clashes in Charlotte, North Carolina, has left one protester on life support, with the renewed violence prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency.
Several hundred people taunted riot police late on Wednesday amid clashes in the city center in a second night of unrest ignited by the police shooting of a black man.
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory said on Twitter that he was activating the US National Guard and highway patrol officers to assist local law enforcement.
Photo: AP
“We cannot tolerate violence. We cannot tolerate the destruction of property and will not tolerate the attacks towards our police officers that are occurring right now, and I feel very strongly about that,” the governor told CNN. “That is not the American way.”
The protests were sparked by the death of Keith Lamont Scott, 43, who was fatally shot in an parking lot on Tuesday after an encounter with officers searching for a suspect wanted for arrest.
A protester was critically wounded and on life support, the city said, after erroneously reporting that the person had died.
Authorities had said the protester was shot by a civilian, adding that police did not open fire.
A reporter at the scene of the protests outside the Omni Charlotte hotel saw a man who was apparently shot falling to the ground, bleeding heavily.
The evening started out with a vigil for Scott, but the atmosphere changed dramatically once demonstrators walked to the nearby police headquarters, where one protester pulled the US flag to the bottom of its flagpole.
By the time the protesters walked the few blocks to uptown and encountered riot police standing like statues on Trade Street, the marchers were seething.
Some stood on cars and hurled objects at police, who fired what appeared to be tear gas.
The Charlotte shooting took place at 4pm on Tuesday as officers searching for a suspect arrived in the parking lot of an apartment complex.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police chief Kerr Putney told journalists that Scott was shot after officers approached a man carrying a gun and loudly commanded him to get out and drop the weapon.
“He stepped out, posing a threat to the officers, and officer Brentley Vinson subsequently fired his weapon, striking the subject,” the police chief said.
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