Tuesday night’s shooting and protests in North Carolina come just days after a police officer in Tulsa, Okla., shot and killed an unarmed black man.
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Early Wednesday, protesters made their way to Interstate 85 and began throwing rocks at passing traffic, prompting police to close the highway.
Less than 5 miles away, wooden pallets barricaded the entrance to a Wal-Mart that had apparently been looted. Both men were African-American, a police official said.
Police tweeted they were deploying their civil emergency unit to help patrol officers leave the scene.
Charlotte police officers went to the complex about 4 p.m. looking for a suspect with an outstanding warrant when they saw Scott – who was not the suspect they were looking for – inside a vehicle, department spokesman Keith Trietley said in a statement.
Scott is one of at least 702 people who have been fatally shot by police so far this year, 163 of them black men, according to a Washington Post database tracking fatal officer-involved shootings.
Charlotte’s mayor, Jennifer Roberts, tweeted that “the community deserves answers and full investigation will ensue”, and asked for calm as investigators worked the case.
Detectives recovered a firearm at the scene and were interviewing witnesses, Trietley said.
Demonstrators gathered late Tuesday near an apartment complex in the city of Charlotte where the shooting occurred, carrying signs that read “Black Lives Matter” and chanting “No justice, no peace!” local television reported.
A dozen police officers were injured Tuesday night in clashes with several hundred people protesting an officer-involved fatal shooting in the University City area. The website said the closure was due to police activity.
Police Chief Kerr Putney said during a news conference Wednesday morning that officers were searching for a suspect Tuesday when they saw Scott exit a vehicle with a handgun. But video released Monday showed Crutcher walking with his hands in the air, and an attorney for the man’s family said the vehicle’s window was rolled up when an officer opened fire on him.
Lamont Scott’s daughter livestreamed the aftermath of the shooting on Facebook. “At this point all we know they’re in the apartment complex parking lot and 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”.
Lamont Scott was transported to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, where he was pronounced dead. Per standard procedure with any officer-involved shooting, Vinson has been placed on paid administrative leave, police said.
Vinson, who joined the Charlotte police force in July 2014, is black, according to the department.
Police blocked access to the area, which is about a mile from the campus of the UNC at Charlotte, as protesters gathered after the shooting.
In the video, she is heard saying police came up to him, yelled for him to get his hands up and broke open the auto window. It said five others have been arrested.
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The investigation is ongoing.
