Rioting continued for the eighth straight day in the US Tuesday, with the death toll continuing to rise, even as National Guards forces were deployed in hotspots across multiple states.
The death toll rose Tuesday from 11 confirmed deaths related to the rioting to at least 14, with at least two more deaths possibly linked to the riots.
The three new fatalities confirmed as being tied to the rioting were reported in two separate incidents in Philadelphia and a third in St. Louis.
In south Philadelphia Tuesday night, a group of looters attempted to break into Firing Line, a gun shop on South Front Street.
When the owner of the store spotted several looters on a surveillance camera attempting to break into his shop, he opened fire with a Bushmaster M-4 rifle, fatally wounding one of the four looters with a headshot. The other looters fled the scene. A pistol was found in the dead man’s possession.
In a separate incident in Philadelphia, a 24-year-old looter died Tuesday morning while trying to blow up an ATM machine.
Police officers shot the looter as he attempted to set off explosives on the ATM machine. The looter was seriously wounded, and later died at a local hospital.
In St. Louis Tuesday night, a retired police captain was murdered by looters outside of a pawnshop.
The victim, 77-year-old David Dorn, an African American man who was working as a security guard after retiring from the St. Louis police department following a 38-year career, was shot and killed by looters who stole a television set from Lee's Pawn and Jewelry on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive.
Dorn’s final moments were streamed on a Facebook live video, showing him lying on the ground outside of the looted shop, holding his cell phone in his hand, apparently after having tried to call for help.
"He was murdered by looters at a pawnshop. He was the type of brother that would’ve given his life to save them if he had to. Violence is not the answer, whether it’s a citizen or officer," The Ethical Society of Police of St. Louis wrote.
The looters responsible for Dorn’s murder remain at large, and a $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to their capture.
A number of other fatalities Tuesday and early Wednesday morning have yet to be confirmed as being related to the rioting.
In New York City, overnight, a gunman was killed and two police officers wounded during a shootout in Brooklyn.
While more than 40 cities across the US – including New York City – have imposed curfews to combat the riots, and with more than 5,400 people arrested, the carnage continued to rage out of control across the country Tuesday night.
National Guard troops were deployed to Washington D.C. Tuesday, after several states deployed National Guard forces over the weekend.
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