A previous Inquisitr article revealed that the night’s incident in the “America’s most segregated city” was spurred by a traffic stop, in which police officers gave foot chase to and fatally shot an armed man as he allegedly attempted to flee.
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As many as 100 protesters skirmished with police in violence that began early in the evening and stretched past midnight.
The Associated Press reports that police say the 23-year-old man was armed, but it’s not clear if he was pointing the gun or aiming at officers. He died from the shooting injuries at the scene. Although police did not release the name or race of either the police officer or the suspect, outrage over white police violence toward minorities has led to the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and caused a national debate about race and policing.
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 officer was wearing a body camera, Barrett said.
Calls to action on social media were responsible for stoking some of the violence, Mayor Tom Barrett said, according to the Washington Post. “There are a lot of really good people who live in this neighborhood”.
Officials in Milwaukee are asking the community for help restoring order. “I don’t know WTF we are going to do, but we gotta do something … when the people start setting S-H-I-T on fire, that’s because they feel like they can’t do anything else …”
“Our police officers are doing everything they can to restore order”. The owner reported that 500 rounds of ammunition also were stolen.
“This stop took place because two officers. saw suspicious activity”, Barrett said. Some threw rocks and debris at police, who held up their shields.
A traffic signal was also bent and bus shelters overturned.
It appears that some level of calm may be temporarily returning to the streets of Milwaukee as dawn approaches, but if Twitter is any indication, anger over last nights rioting is beginning to boil around the nation as a surprising number of people are still attempting to justify the riots, and many more are pushing back against the obvious criminal nature of the riots and the thinnest of justifications offered by the rioters.
An officer was hospitalized after being struck in the head by a brick that came crashing through his squad car’s window. Another police vehicle was set on fire.
When the gas station was set ablaze, there were three people in the building and all got out safely, he said. It was unclear Sunday morning whether the second occupant of the auto was in police custody.
The officer involved, a 24-year-old male, has been with MPD for six years – three as an officer – and will be placed on administrative leave during the investigation.
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“That officer had to make a split-second decision when the person confronted him with a handgun”, Milwaukee Police Assistant Chief Bill Jessup told reporters at the scene, according to WISN.
