CHARLOTTE, N.C.—A person was shot and an officer was injured
during a second night of protests following the fatal police
shooting of a black man the day before.
The protester was shot by a civilian downtown just after 8 p.m.,
according to the city of Charlotte, and was on life support as of
late Wednesday. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department "did
not fire the shot," the city said in a tweet.
The evening began peacefully with a vigil at a 6-acre downtown
park. But as some protesters left the park and marched through the
streets, they faced off with police in riot gear, holding their
hands in the air, chanting, "Hands up, don't shoot." Others
approached the officers' face masks, saying, "Why do you keep
killing us?"
Shortly thereafter, protesters confronted police downtown and
appeared to throw water bottles and chase police cars. Police
responded with tear gas. When a man fell in the street, it was
initially unclear whether he had been shot by police or someone in
the crowd.
Violent protests continued toward midnight Wednesday in the
central business district, a few yards from the Ritz-Carlton hotel
that is host to many Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo &
Co. executives, whose skyscrapers are nearby, and a block from the
arena where basketball legend Michael Jordan's Charlotte Hornets
play. Windows at restaurants and major hotels were smashed, and
police in riot gear sought to regain control of the streets.
The bus and streetcar station a few blocks away closed early, a
rare event in a city which the mayor has said takes pride in its
ability to talk through problems in "the Charlotte way."
Gov. Pat McCrory, a former Charlotte mayor, condemned violent
protests in a statement, and said the state highway patrol was
sending troopers to help the Charlotte police force as needed. He
later declared a state of emergency.
The violent protests began a day earlier, after Keith Lamont
Scott was shot by a police officer in a north Charlotte apartment
complex parking lot.
Police officers on Wednesday morning repeated their account that
Keith Lamont Scott was armed with a gun and ignored their commands
to drop his weapon.
But some local civil-rights leaders said they remained skeptical
of the police account of the officers' encounter with Mr. Scott.
His family members have said on social media that police accosted
him while he read a book in his car and waited to pick up one of
his children from school.
"It's confusing with all these reports coming out," said
Tennille Fadel, a 33-year-old freelance fashion designer who joined
mourners who left candles and white and red roses in the apartment
complex parking lot near where Mr. Scott was fatally shot. She said
the larger issue to her was law enforcement's attitude toward black
people.
"I feel it's a deep-rooted thing," she said.
The protests on Tuesday left 16 police officers injured and
damaged police and other vehicles. A local Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
location was looted, police said. Protesters on Tuesday had chanted
that Mr. Scott had a book, not a gun.
The continued protests on Wednesday weren't what the Scott
family said they wanted. Rakeyia Scott, Mr. Scott's widow, said in
a statement earlier Wednesday evening that the family has "more
questions than answers" about his death. But she had asked that all
protests be peaceful ones, saying: "Please do not hurt people or
members of law enforcement, damage property or take things that do
not belong to you in the name of protesting."
The Wal-Mart remained closed Wednesday, with lines of grocery
carts blocking the parking lot entrances and security guards
standing in front of the doors. The Charlotte Chamber of Commerce
asked businesses to chain down or remove outdoor chairs, tables and
planters in case of protests Wednesday night. Many downtown
employers sent workers home by no later than 5 p.m. as a
precaution.
Charlotte officials hoped a day of talking with local pastors
and civic leaders would help forestall further violence. "We are
calling for peace, we are calling for calm, we are calling for
dialogue," Mayor Jennifer Roberts said.
On Wednesday morning, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr
Putney said that Mr. Scott was "posing a threat" to officers who
approached him in a parking lot in northeastern Charlotte.
Officers were seeking to serve a warrant on another man when
they approached Mr. Scott, who got out of his car with a gun, got
back in the car and then out again, police said. Mr. Scott was shot
by Officer Brentley Vinson, a black officer with two years'
experience on the force, in the presence of several other officers,
the chief said.
Chief Putney said the initial investigation, including a review
of body and dashboard camera footage, shed doubt on the version of
events described by Mr. Scott's family. "The story's a little bit
different as to how it's been portrayed so far. A handgun was
seized," he said. "We did not find a book that was made reference
to," Chief Putney added.
Civil-rights advocates said the Charlotte shooting was further
evidence of systemic policing problems nationwide.
It makes little difference that the Charlotte officer was black
rather than white, as was the case in Baton Rouge and elsewhere,
said Justin Bamberg, an attorney representing the family of Alton
Sterling, the man shot in Baton Rouge, and the family of Walter
Scott, who was killed in 2015 by a white North Charleston, S.C.,
police officer.
"It's not about race," Mr. Bamberg said. "It's the powerful
versus the powerless."
"We have a problem throughout the country," Mr. Bamberg said.
"Do people truly understand the value of human life?"
Mr. Scott's death comes at the tail end of a long summer of
simmering tension nationally between minority communities and law
enforcement. Police fatally shot black men in Baton Rouge, La., and
Falcon Heights, Minn., in July. The U.S. Justice Department
recently opened an investigation into the fatal police shooting
Friday of an unarmed black man in Tulsa, Okla.
The incident also follows deadly attacks on police this summer
that left five officers dead in Dallas and three in Baton Rouge. In
Philadelphia on Friday night, a police sergeant survived after a
man who expressed hatred for police shot her several times in an
ambush, according to officials.
Locally, Tuesday's shooting comes amid lingering tension
regarding the dismissal of charges last year against a white
Charlotte-Mecklenburg officer in the shooting of Jonathan Ferrell,
an unarmed black man who was fatally shot after he knocked on a
door seeking help after a car wreck.
Scott Calvert contributed to this article.
Corrections & Amplifications: A person shot during protests
in Charlotte, N.C., was in critical condition Wednesday night,
according to city officials. An earlier version of this article
incorrectly stated that the person had died.
Write to Valerie Bauerlein at valerie.bauerlein@wsj.com and
Cameron McWhirter at cameron.mcwhirter@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 22, 2016 01:55 ET (05:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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