A man who was shot on Wednesday during violent protests in Charlotte has died, a source confirmed to local network WCNC.
The network claims Justin Carr, 25, died in hospital after being shot as nearby riot police protected an upscale hotel in Charlotte.
This comes as police in Charlotte say they have no plans to release a video showing the fatal shooting of a black man by officers that has sparked two nights of violent protests in North Carolina's largest city.
The video will only be shown to the family of Keith Scott, 43, who was shot dead by a black police officer in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Tuesday afternoon, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said on Thursday.
North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency during Wednesday night's rioting, in which one man was critically wounded by a gunshot.
National Guardsman stand on the street in downtown Charlotte, N.C. on Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016. (AAP) Source: AAP
At least eight more civilians and four police officers were injured and 44 people arrested for charges ranging from assault to failure to disperse.
Many of the protesters dispute the official account of Scott's death.
Police contend he was carrying a gun when he approached officers and ignored repeated orders to drop it.
His family and a witness say he was holding a book, not a firearm, when he was killed.
"I'm not going to release the video right now," Putney said.
He said the video supports the police account of what happened, but does not definitively show Scott pointing a gun at officers.
RELATED READING
Charlotte protests: governor declares state of emergency
Charlotte's reluctance to release the video stands in contrast to Oklahoma, where officials on Monday released footage of the fatal shooting of Terence Crutcher by police after his vehicle broke down on a highway. That shooting is now the subject of a US Department of Justice probe.
The killings were the latest in a long series of controversial fatal police shootings of black men across the United States, sparking more than two years of protests asserting racial bias and excessive force by police and giving rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Overnight, protesters smashed windows and glass doors at a downtown Hyatt hotel and punched two employees, the hotel's manager told Reuters. The slogan "Black Lives Matter" was spray-painted on windows.
Looters were seen smashing windows and grabbing items from a convenience store as well as a shop that sells athletic wear for the NBA's Charlotte Hornets. Protesters also set fire to rubbish bins.
Hundreds of additional state police officers and National Guard troops would be deployed to Charlotte's streets on Thursday to prevent a repeat of the violence, Putney said.
But officials said they had no plans to impose a curfew.
Image from Wednesday, Sept. 21, of Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers moving protesters down a street in Charlotte, N.C. (AAP) Source: AAP
"It should be business as usual," Putney said.
"We don't see the need to definitively shut the city down at a specific hour."
Officials initially said that a man had died during the protests and also that he had been shot by a civilian. Putney on Thursday said the department was looking into allegations that he had been shot by a police officer.
The American Civil Liberties Union has called on the police in Charlotte to release camera footage of the incident.
Authorities have said the officer who shot Scott, Brentley Vinson, was in plainclothes and not wearing a body camera. But according to officials, video was recorded by other officers and by cameras mounted on patrol cars.
Todd Walther, the Charlotte Fraternal Order of Police official, said the plain clothes officers were wearing vests marked "police" and that he saw them do nothing wrong.
Releasing the video would satisfy some people, but not everyone, he added.
