The officer, who has not been identified, fired at Smith, hitting him in the chest and arm and killing him. Almost 40 percent of Milwaukee’s 600,000 residents are black, and they are heavily concentrated on the North side, where the shooting took place. The police chief said he wasn’t sure what prompted the stop but described Smith’s auto as “behaving suspiciously”.
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Walker, a Republican who mounted a failed campaign this year for president, reassured residents that he knew “there are larger issues than what happened this weekend to address” in Milwaukee, which is one of the most segregated cities in America, according to a report late last year by the nonprofit Brookings Institution.
“He’s got a bunch of drug arrests here, robbery, use of force”, Clarke said.
(Milwaukee County Sheriff via AP).
Patrick Smith, right, the father, and Sha Stinson, aunt of a man killed by police, console each other near a burnt gas station in Milwaukee on Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016. Police moved in to try to disperse the crowd and warned of arrests.
On Sunday, an 18-year-old man was wounded by gunfire and seven cops were injured after protesters pelted them with rocks and bricks, Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said.
Mayor Tom Barrett said the officer who shot the man Saturady was wearing a body camera and footage of the shooting would be released later.
“Those individuals, in my mind, are deliberately trying to damage a great neighbourhood in a great city”, he said at a news conference.
“There is a curfew that will be more strictly enforced tonight for teenagers”, Barrett said.
“This is not the place where you go to gawk, this is not the place where you go to take pictures”, he said. Sylville Smith bolted from the vehicle with a gun, leading an officer on a short foot chase before the officer shot the 23-year-old. Police chased Smith after he fled a traffic stop for “suspicious behavior” on Saturday, and according to authorities, called for Smith to drop the weapon multiple times before firing.
Gov. Scott Walker, R, released a statement Sunday afternoon saying he had activated the Wisconsin National Guard to “aid local law enforcement upon request”. In a video posted on Twitter, journalist Tim Pool announced he would be leaving Milwaukee due to the rising violence in the city.
Six businesses were set on fire during the unrest. The city’s usual summer curfew for teenagers younger than 17 has been 11 p.m. Fourteen people were arrested. Three police officers and four sheriff’s deputies were hurt.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the shooting as required by state law. An 18-year-old man suffered a serious gunshot injury.
Flynn says he believes they have made a difference, resulting in less destruction Sunday night than the previous night.
Police Chief Edward Flynn said the shooting of Smith on Saturday was a flashpoint for underlying tensions. Online court records showed a range of offences that were mostly misdemeanors. In a more serious case, Smith was accused in a shooting a year ago and charged with recklessly endangering safety, a felony.
The dead man was identified as Sylville K. Smith, 23.
“This was not an evening of insignificant risk for our officers”, he said. Five officers were killed by a black sniper in Dallas back in July during the peaceful protest of two police killings. All of them are from Milwaukee.
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Milwaukee has become the latest American city to be gripped by violence in response to police killings of black men in places such as Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 and Baltimore a year ago.
