One person was shot and hospitalized with life-threatening injuries during protests in uptown Charlotte Wednesday night, Medic confirmed.
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North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency Wednesday and initiated steps to deploy the National Guard after a second night of rioting in Charlotte.
The protests began Tuesday in response to the police shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, who was confronted by police outside a Charlotte condominium complex where officers had gone to serve an arrest warrant on another person. City officials say police did not fire the shot.
The news comes after police braced for conflict with several hundred protesters rallying in the area.
United States protesters face riot police during a demonstration against police brutality in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 21, 2016, following the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott the previous day.
The killing inflamed racial tensions in a city that seemed to have steered clear of the troubles that engulfed other places.
Not long after the Facebook video was posted Tuesday night, the first night of destructive protests began near the shooting scene, about 15 miles northeast of downtown Charlotte.
Police later claimed that the protester was not shot by officers at all, according to the Associate Press.
At that point, police unleashed volleys of rubber bullets, tear gas and flash-bang grenades to disperse the protesters, who began hurling fireworks and debris at officers outside the hotel, Reuters news agency reported. One CNN reporter was shoved to the ground and rioters also allegedly attempted to throw a photographer into a trashcan fire. Authorities used tear gas to break up the protests.
“Just telling us this is still under investigation is not good enough for the windows of the Wal-Mart”, he said.
“My daddy’s dead! My daddy’s dead!” she screams.
Putney said there is video of the incident, but he had not viewed all of it, and was basing his assessment on witness and police statements.
The North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union urged Charlotte police to release any footage from body or dashboard cameras of a fatal shooting this week.
The defense attorney for Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Randall Kerrick said Ferrell became aggressive, pounding his thighs and taunting Kerrick, saying, “Shoot me!”
The protests were sparked by the fatal police shooting of a black man who officers said had refused their orders to drop a handgun.
Scott’s sister told the same station that her brother did not have a gun and also said the officer who shot him had no uniform on.
Mecklenburg County records matching Keith Lamont Scott’s name and birth date show Scott was charged in April 2004 with multiple counts, including felony assault with a deadly weapon.
However, the police statement said the man was armed and that the weapon he had was recovered from the scene of the shooting. Scott then attempted to get out of the vehicle with the gun in his hand, which is when he was shot by Officer Brentley Vinson, who is black and has been placed on administrative leave, as is standard procedure in such cases.
Charlotte resident Taheshia Williams said she saw the incident from her balcony and that she watched Scott get out of his auto with his hands raised.
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On Tuesday, she said, Scott had only a book in his hands and was following orders.
