Two people were killed and a third seriously injured as gunfire erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Kenosha police confirmed the two fatalities on Wednesday morning but said they would release no further details.
A torrent of videos posted to social media painted a confusing picture of what appeared to be two separate shooting incidents.
One man, wearing a green t-shirt, dark trousers and purple gloves, carrying a satchel and a rifle on a sling, appears in several of them.
In one clip, the man and two others can be seen running into the car park of an auto repair shop as gunfire crackles. The man in the green t-shirt then runs away, apparently talking on his phone, as people surround an injured man and try to help him. Another clip also circulated showing a man with a head wound.
A further video shows several people chasing a man with a long gun who either falls or is knocked to the ground, before he opens fire on his pursuers. Two people appear to be hit.
As the man – with the rifle, satchel, and gloves – gets up and jogs away towards police vehicles at what appears to be the intersection of 60th Street and Sheridan Road in downtown Kenosha, further shots ring out in the background.
Mr Blake, 29, was shot seven times by a police officer on Sunday. It left him paralysed, according to his father and his lawyer.
Protests over the incident are now in their third day and have turned violent.
Police fired tear gas to disperse people who had gathered outside Kenosha’s courthouse on Tuesday night, where some rioters tried to topple a protective fence and threw water bottles and fireworks at officers deployed behind it.
Police then used armoured vehicles and riot shields to push back the crowd when protesters ignored warnings to leave a nearby park, many lingering for hours after the city’s 8pm curfew.
In a statement posted online before the latest round of protests, Mr Beth said he believed they had been soured in part by outside forces.
“We know that much of the damage is being inflicted by people coming in from outside our community, with the intent to rob and destroy, not to engage in their First Amendment right to demonstrate,” he said.
