NEW YORK, September 26. /TASS/. A homeless African Amercian was killed when he attempted to snatch a service weapon from a police officer, CNN said on Friday citing Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes.

According to the sheriff, Kurt Reinhold, 42, died on Wednesday of gunshot wounds, sustained as a result of a "physical altercation" with two deputies from the sheriff department's Homeless Outreach Team.

Reinhold "grabbed one of the deputies' weapons and appears to have tried to bring it out of the holster," Barnes said. During the brawl, the officer shot Reinhold twice. The man died at the scene shortly after.

The shooting is being investigated by the Orange County District Attorney's Office. The encounter was captured in surveillance video, but the authorities decided not to publish it "given the current climate of police-community relations," the sheriff said.

Mass protests and riots sparked in many US states following the death of African-American George Floyd. He died in hospital after a police officer used a choke hold during his arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. To counter the riots, the National Guard joined local law enforcement bodies. Some 40 cities, including Washington D.C. and New York, imposed a curfew.