A shot in the street, then the sound of shattering glass

The demonstrators began marching on uptown — Charlotte’s name for its downtown business and shopping district — at about 8 p.m. Wednesday.

The scene was chaotic and sometimes frightening but not particularly destructive, until a man was shot in the face and police began firing tear gas at the now-furious demonstrators. (Many believed the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police had shot the man, but authorities said later the shooting was a “civilian on civilian” crime. Thursday, the police gave conflicting accounts that satisfied nobody.)

But by now the fuse was lit. At about 9:45 p.m., looters swarmed into EpiCentre, a retail and restaurant center, smashing windows and looting the CVS pharmacy. The protesters also shattered windows at a steakhouse and two other EpiCentre shops and looted the nearby Charlotte Hornets NBA store.