Violent Protests In Charlotte Leave 12 Officers Injured After Police Killing Of Keith Lamont Scott

Overnight protests in Charlotte, North Carolina, in response to the shooting of a black man at the hands of police left 12 officers injured as demonstrators shut down a major freeway, looted tractor trailer trucks and set fire to their cargo.

The unrest followed the latest police killing to capture national attention and came two days after police in Tulsa, Oklahoma, killed a black man whose car was stalled in the middle of a highway. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said her office was looking into the Charlotte killing, and she condemned the violent protests.

“Protest is protected by our Constitution and is a vital instrument for raising issues and creating change,” she said Wednesday. “But when it turns violent, it undermines the very justice that it seeks to achieve and I urge those demonstrating in Charlotte to remain peaceful in their expressions of protest and concern.”

Police officers were at a Charlotte apartment complex to serve an unrelated warrant when they saw Keith Lamont Scott inside a car at the complex. Scott stepped out of the car, and a police statement said he was "armed with a firearm." The man got back in his car, and the officers approached him.

Then, police said, he got back out of his car with the firearm "and posed an imminent deadly threat to the officers." They opened fire, and Scott was killed.

Police identified the officer who fired the fatal shot as Brentley Vinson, who is black. He was placed on administrative leave.

Scott's daughter, in a video broadcast to Facebook Live, said her dad was waiting for a school bus to drop off his son when police arrived on the scene. She said her dad was holding books, not a gun. Police say they recovered a gun from the scene.

“My daddy didn’t do nothing," Scott's daughter said. "They just pulled up undercover."

Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts promised a "full investigation" into the killing. It was not immediately clear if there was any video from bystanders or police body cameras of Scott's death.