Charlotte Erupts as Cops, Seeking Suspect, Kill Another Man

Yet another American city has erupted in protests after a fatal police shooting. Police in Charlotte, NC, say around a dozen officers were injured late Tuesday and early Wednesday after a man was shot and killed in the parking lot of an apartment complex Tuesday afternoon, CNN reports. Police say they were searching for somebody at the complex when they saw Keith Lamont Scott, 43, leave his car holding a gun. Police say Scott—who was not the man they were looking for—was approached by officers after he got back in the car and was shot dead when he emerged from the car with a gun again.

Police say Scott "posed an imminent deadly threat," but family members give a very different account of the shooting to WCCB. They say Scott was sitting in his car reading a book while he waited for his son to get off a school bus, and police mistook the book for a weapon. Brentley Vinson, the officer involved in the shooting, has been with the force since 2014 and is on paid administrative leave while the incident is investigated. Sources tell the Charlotte Observer that Vinson, like Scott, is African American. The Washington Post reports that tear gas and rubber bullets were fired during Tuesday night's protests and protesters shut down traffic on I-85 early Wednesday. (More Charlotte stories.)