Protests rock US as police shoot black man

Following the police shooting a black man. A number of police officers and demonstrators were injured in the violence.Protests and looting rocked a North Carolina city early Wednesday morning, following the police shooting a black man. A number of police officers and demonstrators were injured in the violence.

Media reported that several hundred people gathered to protest against the shooting of 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott, an Afro-American, and the officer who killed him. The shooting is the latest in a string, involving black men being killed by the police – fuelling nationwide outrage.

Demonstrations began late Tuesday evening near an apartment complex in the city of Charlotte, where the shooting occurred.

As news of the shooting spread, protesters gathered, carrying signs that read “Black Lives Matter” and chanting “No justice, no peace!” 

Later in the night, protesters in Charlotte blocked a major road and set trucks ablaze, according to news reports. A local television station reported that looters attempted to break into a Walmart store – some throwing stones and shattering glass doors – and were held back at the entrance by officers.

The violence comes a few days after another police shooting, captured on video, of an unarmed black man in Oklahoma. Together, they are the latest in a series of recent police shootings –from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Dallas, Texas – that have left the Afro-American community demanding law enforcement reforms and greater accountability from public officials. 

News reports said the officer in Tuesday’s shooting, Brentley Vinson, has been sent on paid leave. WSOC-TV reported that the Charlotte shooting occurred as Vinson and other officers were looking for a suspect on an outstanding arrest warrant. The police encountered Scott, who was not the person they were seeking, in a car parked at the building. “At this point, all we know (is) they were in the apartment complex parking lot,” Charlotte-MecklenbergPolice Chief Kerr Putney said.

“This subject gets out with a weapon. They engage him, and one of the officers felt a lethal threat and fired his weapon because of that,”” he added. Police said Scott had a firearm, which is legal under local law “open carry” gun laws. His relatives told local media, however, that he was not carrying a gun, but had a book in his hands when he was gunned down.

Charlotte police donned riot gear and used tear gas as they tried to subdue the angry crowd.