A man has been shot and killed at a US demonstration against the death of Breonna Taylor.
A crowd had gathered in Louisville, Kentucky, to protest the death of Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, who was shot eight times by officers who burst into her Louisville home using a no-knock warrant during a March 13 narcotics investigation. No drugs were found at her home.
Louisville Metro police said in a statement that there were reports of shots fired in Jefferson Square Park about 9pm on Saturday, adding that the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department had tried to resuscitate a man who later died.
Another shooting victim was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Video from the scene, posted to social media, appeared to show a man calmly opening fire into a camp which had been set up in the park, sending those in the area scrambling for cover.
Footage also showed one man bleeding on the floor, surrounded by frantic protesters who urged bystanders to call emergency services.
Police said officers cleared the park and were “trying to gather as much information as possible in order to identify all who were involved in the incident,” the statement said.
No information about arrests, possible suspects and the victims’ identities and ages was immediately released.
The incident comes as the US president said he had signed an executive order to protect monuments, memorials and statues targeted by anti-racism protesters.
Donald Trump used Twitter to call for the arrest of protesters involved in an attempt to pull down the statue of Andrew Jackson from a park directly in front of the White House.
Also on Saturday, Mississippi legislators took the first steps toward erasing the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag, a symbol that has come under intensifying criticism amid the nationwide demonstrations.
Meanwhile, the protest in Louisville came after the city’s mayor announced one of the three police officers involved in Ms Taylor’s death will be fired.
Sam Aguiar, a lawyer for Taylor’s family said the move was overdue.
“It’s about damn time. It should have happened a long time ago, but thankfully it’s at least happening now,” Aguiar said.
Many Black Lives Matter protesters have called for the police who killed Taylor to be arrested, especially in the wake of the arrest of former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin, who killed George Floyd in May – sparking huge demonstrations worldwide.