By Sky News US Team
The father of a black South Carolina man who was killed while fleeing a white policeman has said the officer shot his son as if he was trying to "kill a deer running through the woods".
Patrolman Michael Slager, 33, has been charged with murder over last Saturday's death of 50-year-old Walter Lamer Scott in the city of North Charleston.
A bystander captured video which appears to show the policeman firing eight shots at Mr Scott, who was running away at the time.
The two men had apparently engaged in a brief scuffle following a traffic stop for a faulty brake light.
The dead man's father, Walter Scott Sr, told NBC's Today Show on Wednesday: "It looked like he was trying to kill a deer or something, running through the woods."
Mr Scott Sr said his son may have fled because he owed child support money.
He said his "heart was broken" upon seeing the video.
Mr Scott Sr also told NBC that without the footage "it would have never come to light. They would have swept it under the rug, like they did with so many others."
North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey said on Wednesday that Slager had been fired and all officers in the city would in future wear body cameras.
In the footage, the officer is seen with his weapon raised before firing at the fleeing man. Mr Scott falls face-first to the ground.
Authorities said the officer opened fire after using a stun gun on Mr Scott.
Slager said into his police radio after the shooting that Mr Scott had taken his stun gun.
The video shows the patrolman handcuffing the victim as he lies on the ground, before walking back to a spot near where he opened fire.
The footage then shows him appearing to pick something up, return to Mr Scott, then drop it next to him on the ground.
Mr Scott was hit by five bullets - three times in the back, once in the upper buttocks and once in the ear, said family lawyer Chris Stewart, quoting a coroner.
The dead man's brother, Anthony Scott, said his late sibling was a father of four who served for two years in the US Coast Guard.
Slager, who was with North Charleston Police for five years, is being held without bail on a murder charge that could carry the death penalty.
The victim's family plans to sue Slager, the department and the city, alleging that his civil rights were violated, a family lawyer said.
The mayor said the city would continue to cover health insurance for Slager's wife, who is eight months pregnant, until she has the baby.
Nearly half of North Charleston's 100,000 population is black, according to Census data.
But some 18% of its police force is African American, the local Post and Courier newspaper reported last year.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Justice Department has also launched an investigation into the shooting, which comes after a series of police killings of unarmed black men.
The deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner on Staten Island both led to nationwide protests.
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