The riots occurred after a black man shot and killed a white policeman and ultimately resulted in 13 deaths.

[1][2][3] On July 3, an African-American man named Lee Brown, aka Robert Lee, had a dispute with another African-American man, Tom Berry, at a bar and attempted to return to the bar with a gun but was stopped by Louis N. Massey, the most senior policeman on the force.

Several accounts describe the escalation as coming to a head after a rock was thrown by someone in the crowd, at the militia, who in turn fired warning shots which caused chaos.

Two more deaths were added to the list of fatalities resulting from the shooting of Monday night, last evening Frank Lamble and Charles Taylor, passing away from the effect of the wounds received.

He was unconscious from the first and never recovered sufficiently to talk of the occurrence or to give any information of how he was shot...."[7] The people killed during the riot were:[3][dead link‍][4]