A man was shot and was on life support, city officials said, on Wednesday during the second night of protests following the death of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte. Scott, a 43-year-old black man, was shot and killed by a Charlotte police officer at an apartment complex. As protesters chanted “Hands up! Don’t shoot!”, Charlotte authorities in riot gear blocked off streets and launched tear gas to disperse crowds in the center of Charlotte’s Uptown district.
The city of Charlotte’s Twitter account attributed the unidentified man’s shooting to a “civilian on civilian” confrontation.
ALERT: Fatal shot uptown was civilian on civilian. @CMPD did not fire shot.
— City of Charlotte (@CLTgov) September 22, 2016
CORRECTION UPDATE: Civilian who suffered gunshot wound during protests is on life support, critical condition. Not deceased.
— City of Charlotte (@CLTgov) September 22, 2016
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory announced on Twitter that he was declaring a state of emergency and deploying the National Guard to Charlotte as police confronted demonstrators.
Police are firing teargas canisters and what appeared to be flash bangs. Although they could be fireworks. The crowd is dispersing. pic.twitter.com/H5dqOnjQrx
— Cleve R. Wootson Jr. (@CleveWootson) September 22, 2016
Protest Happening in #clt pic.twitter.com/acbxoYS4lK
— Cleve R. Wootson Jr. (@CleveWootson) September 22, 2016
College street blocked off, large crowd still at trade and college. #KeithScott #clt pic.twitter.com/DC5vy5iFsg
— Ely Portillo (@ESPortillo) September 22, 2016
Rakeiya Scott, the wife of Keith Scott, warned against violence on Wednesday, asking people to “protest peacefully.” The family is “devastated” and has “more questions than answers about Keith’s death,” Scott said in a statement. “Rest assured, we will work diligently to get answers to our questions as quickly as possible.”
Just in… the wife of #KeithScott released this statement. Asks for no law enforcement officers to be harmed @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/H1Iq4doGsb
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) September 21,