*The man shot in the head during Wednesday night’s unrest near a downtown Charlotte hotel has died.
In a news release, police spokesman Keith Trietley says 26-year-old Justin Carr died Thursday at a Charlotte area hospital.
Carr was shot as protesters clashed with police in riot gear lined arm-in-arm protecting the Omni Hotel about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. City officials say Carr was not shot by an officer.
Police Chief Kerr Putney says the detectives are determined to find who fired the fatal shots. No arrests have been made.
The circumstances of Carr’s death are murky, with some eyewitnesses believing that an officer was responsible and others disputing that and saying the shooting could have stemmed from gang rivalries.
Eyewitness accounts differ, with some saying an officer shot Carr (perhaps with a rubber bullet), although one man wrote that he saw a civilian shoot Carr, and the bullet whizzed past him. Others say the shooting could have stemmed from gang rivalries.
“We’re here to seek the truth,” said Chief Putney. “So, we’re investigating that to find the truth, the absolute truth, as best the evidence can show us.” That’s a shift in tone, though, from the night before, when the city definitively declared that a civilian killed Carr.
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