Share

Officer-involved shooting sparks unrest in Milwaukee

Authorities said firefighters were initially unable to tackle the blazes because of gunfire.

Advertisement

Milwaukee police said it all started when two officers pulled over two suspects in a vehicle. The officer has been with the Milwaukee police department for six years, three as an officer.

Police had “shown an fantastic amount of restraint”, Barrett said. He urged parents to keep tight reins on their children to avoid a repeat of Saturday night.

Alderman Ashanti Hamilton said: “Our city is in turmoil tonight”.

The shooting happened in one of the city’s poorest areas, where the community is predominantly black.

“When we get information, we are going to share it with the public, please allow the process to work”, he said.

Police estimate that at least 200 people had gathered and gunshots were heard throughout the evening. Police spokesman Bruno Metzger said that the assailant poured the liquid on one woman, and that it appeared to have caught fire when it came into contact with oxygen.

He added: “An officer fired several times”.

A police vehicle with broken windows is seen in a photograph released by the Milwaukee Police Department after disturbances following the police shooting of a man in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. August 13, 2016. Shots were fired, apparently in the air.

Soon after, the crowd turned on and chased reporters and a photographer from the Journal Sentinel. One officer was injured by a thrown brick. Police said the officer was being treated at a hospital. Police said the man was armed, but it wasn’t clear whether he was pointing the gun or aiming it at officers.

Some left but many stayed as tensions built.

The demonstrations started to calm down around 12:30am Sunday.

The shooting occurred Saturday afternoon. Police say the man was armed and was shot during a foot chase that followed a traffic stop. The suspects then took off on foot. Authorities said officers shot and killed the man after he fled from a vehicle on Milwaukee’s North Side, when stopped by police in traffic at about 3.30pm on 13 August.

The officer was not hurt.

The United States has been on edge for weeks following shootings targeting police officers in several cities, among them Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The fighters also freed hundreds of civilians the extremists had used as human shields, Syrian Kurdish officials and an opposition activist group said.

“That officer had to make a split-second decision when the person confronted him with a handgun”, Jessup said. A spokesperson for Milwaukee Police said: “The suspect is a 23-year-old Milwaukee man with lengthy arrest record”.

The handgun the suspect carried was was taken in a burglary in Waukesha in March, according to police. The owner reported that 500 rounds of ammunition also were stolen. The 24-year-old officer who shot the man has been placed on administrative duty.

The shooting occurred just a few blocks from two fatal shootings Friday and Saturday, part of a violent stretch in the city in which five people died in shootings during a nine-hour stretch.

Advertisement

“I know this neighborhood very very well”. “Our officers are out here taking risks on behalf of the community and making split-second decisions”. Some activists said it was an intimidating presence. At the same time, the incidents also led to a surge in residents and local leaders promoting positive activity there.

Latest: Milwaukee police try again to disperse protesters