Charlotte protests: Police injured after black man shot

Twelve police officers have been injured during protests sparked by the police shooting of a black man in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Demonstrators destroyed marked police cars around the block of flats where the shooting took place, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department tweeted.

One officer was hit in the face with a rock, it said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Keith Lamont Scott, 43, was shot by a black officer and died in hospital.

Police say he was carrying a gun and posed an "imminent deadly threat", but relatives told local media he was not holding a weapon but a book.

"He didn't have no gun," a woman identifying herself as his sister told local television. "He wasn't messing with nobody."

Protesters took to the streets after Keith Lamont Scott was shot in a car park outside a block of flats

Protesters outraged over the incident blocked streets and police used tear gas, local media reported.

Mayor Jennifer Roberts appealed for calm, and said the shooting of Keith Lamont Scott would be looked into.

"The community deserves answers and full investigation will ensue," she tweeted. "Will be reaching out to community leaders to work together."

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The unrest came a day after police in the city of Tulsa, in Oklahoma, said a black man they had killed on Friday was unarmed.

Hundreds of people have been protesting outside police headquarters there.

Terence Crutcher was walking away with his hands in the air when he was shot by police, his family said.

Video footage showed him walking with his arms raised to the door of his vehicle, but a lawyer for the officer who shot Mr Crutcher said he had ignored officers' commands. The footage at the moment of the shooting is not clear.

In Charlotte, officers had been looking for a different suspect at a block of flats when Mr Scott was killed, police spokesman Keith Trietley said.

They saw Mr Scott get out of a car carrying a gun before getting back in, he said. When the officers approached, Mr Scott got out of the car with the gun again and police opened fire after deeming him a threat.

He was not the suspect police were originally looking for, Mr Trietley confirmed.

Protesters in Charlotte chanted "stop killing us"

Brentley Vinson, the officer who shot Mr Scott, has been placed on administrative leave as part of police protocol.

A woman claiming to be Mr Scott's daughter has contested the police department's account in a Facebook video, the Charlotte Observer reports.

She says Mr Scott was unarmed and reading while he was waiting for his son's school bus and was tasered before being shot four times.

She also said he was disabled. Police have not responded to the claims but say they recovered a gun at the scene.

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