Three people were shot, two of them fatally, as gunfire broke out on the streets of Wisconsin on a third night of unrest following the police shooting of a black man in the US state.
Jacob Blake, 29, was left paralysed and is "fighting for his life," his family and lawyers said on Tuesday . He will need a "miracle" to walk again, they added.
Police in riot gear skirmished after dark with about 200 demonstrators defying a dawn-to-dusk curfew outside a courthouse and an adjacent park in the downtown area of Kenosha.
Footage emerged on social media on Wednesday of what appeared to be a gun battle between members of the public. Several people were seen rushing towards a man with a gun who apparently been knocked to the ground.
Police in Kenosha said two people were fatally shot during the protests and a third was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
An investigation into the shootings which happened at around 11.45pm on Tuesday, is ongoing.
The disturbances came hours after Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers declared a state of emergency and vowed to deploy additional National Guard troops in a bid to restore order in the town.
Mr Blake’s mother Julia Jackson earlier appealed for calm, saying the damage done to the city “doesn’t reflect my son or my family.”
She called for unity, telling a press conference that she was praying for police officers.
"They shot my son seven times. Seven times! Like he didn't matter," Jacob Blake Sr, his voice crumbling with emotion, told reporters.
Wisconsin, Kenosha: Jacob Blake Protests - In pictures
"My son matters. He's a human being and he matters.”
Mr Blake, 29, a father of six, was struck from behind at point-blank range in a hail of bullets fired on Sunday by police who were following him with guns drawn as he walked away from officers to his car and opened a door to the vehicle.
Three of his young sons inside the automobile - aged 3, 5 and 8 - witnessed their father being gunned down, according to civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the Blake family.
A bystander captured the encounter in video footage that immediately went viral, unleashing outrage.
Mr Blake, who had been attempting to break up a quarrel between two women, was struck by four of seven gunshots fired at him, all by one officer, and there was "no indication he was armed," Crump said in an ABC News interview on Tuesday.
The police have not explained why Mr Blake was shot.