Late on Monday afternoon, dozens of police, some in riot gear, erected fencing to cordon off Sherman Park, the centre of the neighbourhood that was the scene of the weekend shooting and subsequent disturbances.
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Earlier on Sunday, the Wisconsin National Guard was activated, and 125 personnel were sent to the city.
As the sun set, there was notably lower foot traffic in the neighbourhood ahead of the 10 pm curfew.
Patrol cars were seen parked in alleyways and along major thoroughfares as the curfew came into effect at 10pm.
“This is not the place where you go to gawk; it is not the place where you go to take pictures; it is not the place to drive your auto around”, Mayor Barrett told a news conference on Monday.
“If you love your son, if you love your daughter, text them, call them, pull them by their ears, get them home”, Barrett said.
Milwaukee was relatively calm overnight Monday as officials imposed a 10 p.m. curfew for teenagers after two nights of violent protests over a fatal shooting by a police officer.
Donald Trump visited with the Milwaukee County sheriff as part of a campaign stop in Milwaukee just days after it was wracked by violence following the police shooting of a black man.
The Sherman Park neighborhood erupted in chaos Saturday night after a black suspect was fatally shot by a black Milwaukee police officer.
The Milwaukee Police Officers Association published a statement calling demonstrators who’d destroyed property “terrorists” who “must be held accountable”. City leaders have said the officer’s body camera clearly showed Smith was holding a handgun and had turned toward the officer when he was shot.
Over the past weekend, Sylville Smith, an armed Milwaukee man, was shot and killed by a police officer during a chase. A rock that broke the windshield of a squad vehicle injured an officer, police said.
Milwaukee’s mayor, Tom Barrett addresses reporters and calls on the community to help quell unrest following a second night of demonstrations over an officer-involved shooting.
Four officers were injured and at least seven police cars sustained heavy damage as a result of the violence.
Photo taken on August 14, 2016 shows cars damaged by violence in Milwaukee, U.S. state of Wisconsin.
After declaring a state of emergency Sunday and calling the National Guard, Governor Scott Walker said everything that happened over Milwaukee’s tough weekend was not the way to start hard conversations. “This entire community has sat back and witnessed how Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has become the worst place to live for African Americans in the entire country”. Black lives really also matter and needed to be treated with dignity.
Multiple social media videos showed crowds of young people in the predominantly African-American neighborhood setting fires and celebrating as police cars burned. By state law, the Wisconsin Department of Justice will lead the investigation.
The Milwaukee mayor on Sunday said that the damage from Saturday’s unrest was “unlike anything I’ve seen”, he said.
The unnamed officer who fired on Smith was black, according to Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn.
“The community stepped up last night”, Flynn said.
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The police chief implored unruly protesters to stop the destruction and lamented the loss of jobs from torched businesses.
