Charlotte police arrest suspect in shooting of protester
Police in Charlotte, North Carolina have arrested a suspect in the murder of a civilian protester on Wednesday night, Charlotte Mecklenberg Police Department Chief Kerr Putney said at a news conference on Friday.
The protester, who died of his wounds on Thursday, was shot as residents protested the killing of a black man, Keith Scott, by police on Tuesday.
The police identified the suspect as Rayquan Borum, and charged him in the shooting death of Justin Carr, 26, who died Thursday.
Largely peaceful protests dwindled early on Friday in Charlotte, as police chose not to enforce a curfew prompted by two nights of riots after the shooting.
A crowd of hundreds gathered, chanted and marched for a third successive night in the city of about 810,000 people, demanding justice for Scott, 43, who was shot dead by a black police officer in the parking lot of an apartment complex on Tuesday afternoon.
Scott’s death is the latest to stir passions in the US over the police use of force against black men.
It has stirred a broad debate on race and justice in the US and given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.
The Charlotte Police Department said on Twitter that two officers were treated after they were sprayed with a chemical agent by demonstrators and that no civilians were injured on Thursday.
Scott’s family viewed videos of the episode on Thursday and asked for them to be made public, stepping up the pressure on authorities.
Police say Scott was carrying a gun when he approached officers and ignored repeated orders to drop it.
His family previously said he was holding a book, not a firearm, and now says it has more questions than answers after viewing two videos recorded by police body cameras.