Violent protest erupts against US police's fatal shooting of black man

WASHINGTON - Several police officers were wounded Tuesday evening in the US city of Charlotte, North Carolina while trying to disperse a protest against police's fatal shooting of a black man, authorities said.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) said on its twitter account that "agitators" destroyed marked police cars during the demonstration.

A large crowd of protesters gathered Tuesday evening at The Village at College Downs apartment complex on the Old Concord Road, where an African-American man, identified as Keith Lamont Scott, was killed Tuesday afternoon by a police officer, local media reported.

Some protesters chanted "Black lives matter," and "Hands up, don't shoot!" One of them held up a sign saying "Stop Killing Us."

The protest turned violent when protesters surrounded police in riot gear and started throwing glass bottles and garbage at and vandalized police cars at the scene. The police reportedly used tear gas to disperse the protesters.

The CMPD said earlier that the shooting occurred after police officers looking for a suspect with an outstanding warrant encountered Scott, who "exited a car with a gun."

Scott was shot because he was considered to be a threat to the officers, the CMPD said. Emergency personnel took him to Carolinas Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

But family members told a different story about the shooting, the Fox46 TV reported. They said Scott was disabled and unarmed, and was reading a book inside his car while waiting to pick up a child from a school bus.

Brentley Vinson, the officer who killed Scott, has been placed on paid administrative leave as a standard procedure pending an investigation of the shooting. Vinson is also an African-American.