For a second night, protests in Milwaukee over the police shooting of an armed African-American man turned violent as demonstrators fired shots and hurled objects, injuring at least two people early Monday, police said.
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Protests erupted in December 2014 after a county prosecutor decided not to file charges against the officer who shot and killed 31-year-old Dontre Hamilton, a black man with a history of mental illness who was confronted by the officer while sleeping in a park.
Mr Flynn said that while police came under fire on Sunday night, “none of our officers returned fire”.
Violence over the police-involved shooting of an black armed man in Milwaukee, MN gripped the community early Monday morning. Seven officers were injured, one after a rock crashed through his squad vehicle window, according to Flynn.
Angry people in Milwaukee weren’t burning buildings and cars and hurling bricks and bottles at police only because Smith was shot.
Police defended the shooting of Smith on Sunday, claiming that it was lawful because Smith pointed a gun at the officer. According to Edward Flynn, the Milwaukee police chief, Smith ran to a fenced area and turned to the officer while holding a gun. “I see it as a latter”, he said.
Wisconsin’s governor said police had requested the assistance of the National Guard in case unrest continues over the police killing of a Black man. That means praying for people if they want it.
He said the officer stopped Smith’s vehicle because he was behaving suspiciously and then had to chase him several dozen feet on foot into an enclosed space between two houses. “We saw rocks being thrown at cops, and it culminated with an 18-year-old white kid being shot in the neck yesterday”.
Officials have been appealing for calm since the violence erupted Saturday night in wake of the fatal police shooting of Sylville K. Smith, 23. Both Flynn and Barrett stressed that police didn’t fire a single shot during the events that took place. Flynn said there was no evidence that Smith fired the gun he had, which he said held 23 bullets at the time.
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke has also ordered that Sherman Park, near the center of the violence, be closed at 6 p.m. rather than its usual 10 p.m. Flynn said 150 department officers specially trained in managing big protests had also been mobilized. It’s the police and the madness that they spark up.
An 18-year-old man was shot and wounded during Sunday night’s unrest, which was milder and far less destructive than Saturday night’s confrontation but still left the city tense.
Police transport a man who was apparently shot during unrest in Milwaukee to a hospital, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016. Police officers used an armored vehicle to extricate the victim from the crowd and take that person to a nearby hospital. Changing what’s going on between police officer’s ears – not what color skin they wear – is part of the solution.
After a weekend of turmoil in Milwaukee, the ranks of the city’s police department are growing. He said it was unclear how many rounds the officer fired in response.
The anger at Milwaukee police is not new and comes as tension between black communities and law enforcement has ramped up across the nation, resulting in protests and the recent ambush killings of eight officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dallas.
When city alderman Khalif Rainey called Milwaukee “the worst place to live for African Americans”, it wasn’t just hyperbole. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn later clarified that officers should immediately call paramedics if a prisoner has trouble breathing or is in pain.
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Such inequality has afflicted many US cities as a result of the loss of manufacturing jobs over the past three decades, sometimes stoking unrest when police use deadly force.
