‘This is not about politics’: Protesters at the Charlotte, North Carolina, protest

WASHINGTON — Protesters have shut down the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department for the day after they clashed with officers in what police say was a racially motivated confrontation.

The rioters smashed windows and threw rocks at officers as they responded to a call of shots fired at 10:40 a.m. local time on Sunday, police said.

Police say one officer was shot and another was treated and released.

Police arrested more than 30 people for vandalism, including a black woman with a pellet gun, police spokesman Al Harris said.

The Charlotte-mecklenberg Police Department says one officer had a pelleted bullet lodged in his leg.

Police said the violence began after a black man and a white woman were arguing about whether a police car had been stolen from a white couple.

The confrontation escalated, and the woman began firing shots, police told The Associated Press.

She was hit in the face and abdomen.

Two officers were hit with pepper spray and treated and left the scene, police Chief Al Thomas said.

The Charlotte-MEcklenburys police department said in a statement Sunday that officers used pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

The protests came after days of clashes between white supremacists and counterprotesters in the South and elsewhere.

A group of about 100 protesters were in Charlotte Saturday night, with about a dozen officers involved, police and local media reported.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the officers to start shooting.

Charlotte-Meggs police have issued a “zero tolerance” policy for such behavior, and all officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave, police Lt.

David Brown said.