Following a night of violence that left half a dozen businesses in flames, the Milwaukee police chief expressed surprise at the level of unrest that erupted after the fatal shooting of a black man by a black officer. Online court records showed a range of offenses that were mostly misdemeanors. Flynn said the man “doesn’t seem to be in medical danger”. In a more serious case, Smith was accused in a shooting past year and charged with recklessly endangering safety, a felony. There were 17 arrests made on Saturday night, police said.
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The renewed violence comes less than 24 hours after widespread looting and arson in the Sherman Park neighborhood after a Milwaukee police officer shot and killed an armed black man.
But Barrett said any decision to deploy the troops would come from the police chief.
The protests Sunday were tame compared to the events of Saturday night, which followed the death of 23-year-old Sylville Smith.
Flynn said Smith was armed, and sometime after he turned toward the officer with a gun in his hand, the officer shot him, and the entire episode lasted no longer than 20 to 25 seconds.
On Flynn’s suggestion that members of his party were responsible for any violence, Dix said: “If anybody wants to allege that our people were actually committing those acts, they should bring that to us”. Demonstrations also unfolded after 32-year-old Philando Castile was shot and killed in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, during a traffic stop by a Latino police officer.
Barrett also praised pastors and community group leaders who are engaged in trying to keep the peace, saying they are making the situation better.
Because the audio was delayed, he said, it was not clear when the officer fired his weapon. “And, no matter what the circumstances, his family must be hurting”. Barrett says he’s concerned about the economic damage being done to the Sherman Park neighborhood. He said it was unclear how many rounds the officer fired in response.
Protesters earlier threw rocks and other objects at officers and police say shots were fired in a handful of locations.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Smith was also charged in a shooting and was later charged with pressuring the victim to withdraw testimony that identified Smith as the gunman. The charges were dropped because the victim recanted the identification and failed to appear in court, Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern told the newspaper.
The Times writes, “Milwaukee is one of the United States’ most segregated cities, where black men are incarcerated or unemployed at some of the highest rates in the country, and where the difference in poverty between black and white residents is about one and a half times the national average”.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker put Wisconsin’s National Guard on standby, and 125 Guard members reported to local armories to prepare for further instructions.
Milwaukee is moving up its curfew for teenagers following violence on the city’s north side after the police-involved shooting of a black man.
DeShawn Corprue, 31, who lives behind the burned-out BP station, said nothing that police released about Smith’s death would have stopped the weekend’s unrest.
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Police move in on a group of protesters throwing rocks at them in Milwaukee, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016.
