Protesters Confront Police After Shooting in Charlotte

The Associated Press
The Associated Press

Update 2:20am ET

Rioters express anger at police for fatal shooting in live facebook broadcast.

Update 2:05am ET

Mayor of Charlotte Jennifer Roberts weighs in on the riot in her city after fatal shooting:

https://twitter.com/CLTMayor/status/778441420671623168

Updates From the Associated Press:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Latest on Charlotte police fatally shooting a man Tuesday (all times local):

11:30 p.m.

Television station aerial coverage is showing protesters breaking windows on a police vehicle after an officer shot a man earlier in the day at a Charlotte apartment complex.

On WSOC-TV footage Tuesday night, several of the vehicle’s windows appeared to be broken and the windshield shattered. Demonstrators lingered after the initial damage.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has posted on its Twitter account that demonstrators are destroying marked police vehicles and one officer has sustained injuries that are not life threatening.

Earlier, a tow truck was brought in to take another police cruiser away. Local media outlets reported that car suffered damage to its rear end.

One television news crew has retreated from the scene after demonstrators began rocking their remote van, which was parked near the apartment complex where the shooting occurred.

Overhead, the CMPD helicopter hovered, shining a spotlight on the protest.

___

10:15 p.m.

Video from WCCB-TV in Charlotte showed police in riot gear confronting protesters at an apartment complex after an officer shot a man there earlier in the day.

The officers were shown backing up as protesters advanced down the street Tuesday night. Initial reports say at least 100 protesters gathered at the scene, with some throwing water bottles at police.

The police officers were in riot gear stretched across a two-lane road. Some of the officers flanked the main line on one side of the road

Some protesters were heard yelling “Black lives matter,” and “Hands up, don’t shoot!” One person held up a sign saying “Stop Killing Us.”

___

6:30 p.m.

Police in North Carolina have shot and killed a person who they say was armed and posed a threat.

A statement from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said officers were at an apartment complex on Tuesday looking for a suspect with an outstanding warrant when they encountered a person — not the suspect they were looking for — inside a car. Officials say the person exited the car with a gun, then got back in.

The statement said when officers approached the car, the person got out of the car with the gun again. The officers considered the person to be a threat and fired their weapons. Emergency personnel took the person to Carolinas Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The suspect’s identity hasn’t been released.

The officers have been placed on administrative leave.

 

From ABC News:

A black police officer shot an armed black man at an apartment complex Tuesday, authorities said, prompting angry street protests late into the night.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department tweeted that demonstrators were destroying marked police vehicles and that approximately 12 officers had been injured, including one who was hit in the face with a rock. Television coverage showed police firing tear gas to break up the crowd. The protests came just hours after another demonstration in Tulsa, Oklahoma, over the shooting there of an unarmed black man by police.

Charlotte police went to the complex about 4 p.m. looking for a suspect with an outstanding warrant when they saw the man — not the suspect they were looking for — inside a car, department spokesman Keith Trietley said in a statement.

Officers saw the man get out of the car with a gun and then get back in, Trietley said. When officers approached, the man exited the car with the gun again. At that point, officers deemed the man a threat and at least one fired a weapon, he said.

The man, identified as 43-year-old Keith Lamont Scott, was taken to Carolinas Medical Center and pronounced dead.

Officer Brentley Vinson, who shot Scott, has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard procedure in such cases. Vinson has been with the department for two years.

Read the rest of the story here:

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