The Chicago police officer who shot a black teenager last year has pleaded not guilty to murder, as Mayor Rahm Emanuel cut short a vacation to return to the city to deal with the fallout from two more fatal police shootings.
Meanwhile, protesters demonstrated outside the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office in Cleveland, Ohio, a day after a grand jury decided not to charge two white police officers in the 2014 shooting death of Tamir Rice, a black 12-year-old boy who was playing in a park with a replica gun that shoots plastic pellets.
Tensions over race and policing in Chicago and Cleveland come amid intense scrutiny of police killings in the US over the past 18 months, especially of black men.
Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke, who is white, faces six counts of first-degree murder and one count of official misconduct for killing Laquan McDonald, 17, in October 2014. He pleaded not guilty to all charges on Tuesday at the Cook County criminal court in Chicago.
Over the weekend, another Chicago police officer fatally shot two black people, prompting Emanuel to cut short a family vacation to Cuba.
Bettie Jones, 55, a mother of five, and college student Quintonio LeGrier, 19, were killed early on Saturday by an officer responding to a call that LeGrier was threatening a family member with a baseball bat. Police said Jones was killed by accident.
A vigil by former students is planned for LeGrier on Tuesday evening at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, a selective enrolment high school LeGrier had attended, said Daniel Bauer, assistant principal.
A group of about 75 protesters dissatisfied with the grand jury's decision in the Rice case listened to speeches outside the Cleveland prosecutor's office on Tuesday. They then marched through downtown Cleveland chanting "No justice, no peace, no racist police."
Cleveland police will review the fatal shooting of Rice to determine if the two officers involved or others should face disciplinary action, officials said on Tuesday.
In Chicago, about 20 protesters gathered outside Mayor Emanuel's house on Tuesday afternoon, according to CBS Chicago. There is also a protest planned at City Hall on Thursday.
Van Dyke's next hearing is on January 29.
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