A US student has been critically injured after police shot him in the head with "less-lethal" bean bag bullets.
Justin Howell, an African American political science student at Texas State University, was attending a demonstration in Austin on May 31 in protest of police brutality when he was shot.
The 20-year-old was identified by his older brother Joshua in the university's newspaper Battalion who said he "won't be improving quickly".
"'It will be a marathon, not a sprint,' according to one of his doctors.
"He has a fractured skull. He has brain damage, doctors anticipate that when he wakes up, he will have difficulty telling his left from his right."
Joshua said the beanbag bullets which police claim are "less lethal", are only called that by a technicality.
"My brother’s condition shows what can happen when you fire them into a crowd."
A video posted online shows police shooting at volunteer paramedics and protesters as they carried Howell's limp body away for medical attention.
In his story Joshua slams the officers involved.
"It's unclear whether the officers who shot at the protesters were the same ones who gave them the order to approach," he said.
"But at minimum, it takes a special kind of incompetence to fire at those who are doing as the police tell them. At minimum, it shows a complete inability to be aware of your surroundings and to manage the situation appropriately."
Volunteer paramedic Maredith Michael posted photos on Facebook of her bruised hands, which had been shot as she moved Howell who was "convulsing and unable to move".
"Several guys started to carry him, I was clearing the path, with my hands up (crossed wrists, our signal that I was volunteering for the medical tent across the street)
"They started to fire into the crowd, and shot my hands, from no more than 3 feet away. I don't remember falling to the ground, injuring my shoulder, hip, and neck. I woke up to what seemed like the relentless sound of these "less lethal" bean bags... And my own screaming."
She said they knew she was a medic as she had "sewed a huge red and white medical cross on the front and back" of her firefighter's jersey and had crosses on her helmet.
"They knew I was a medic. I begged them to help the young man, I begged them to help me... But they just continued to fire these 'less lethal' bean bags into the crowd."
Howell is one of two people who have been hurt by the bullets.
Austin Police Chief Brian Manley spoke to the media Monday afternoon regarding the weekend protests, KVUE reported.
"I'm crushed. I've cried a few times today," he said.
"One is, at least, fighting for their life and the other one has been seriously injured, as well. That is not what we set out to do as a police department. That was not what we set out to do this weekend."
He said the police are praying for Howell and his family and hope "his condition improves quickly".
In a third incident, Manley said they are investigating another incident where a pregnant woman was hit in the abdomen with the bean bag bullets.
Her condition was not immediately known.
"She, too, was brought into police headquarters and was assisted by both medics and APD personnel," Manley said.
