Milwaukee police say they are battling continued unrest early Monday morning, making multiple arrests and rushing one shooting victim and at least one officer to the hospital in the second night of violence following a fatal police shooting.
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The incident started Saturday afternoon when two officers stopped two people who were in a vehicle in the north side, according to the Milwaukee Police Department. Police moved in before 11 p.m. CT to disperse a crowd at Sherman Boulevard and Burleigh Street after protesters started throwing objects.
In earlier statements, Milwaukee police said an officer shot and killed an armed man who was fleeing a traffic stop about 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
The man, whose name has not been released, was shot late Sunday during a demonstration to protest the killing of a black man by a police officer a day earlier.
Police violence against black people has set off intermittent, sometimes violent protests in the past two years, igniting a national debate over race and policing in the United States and giving rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.
The National Guard, which is under the dual control of the federal and state governments, was deployed in Ferguson in August 2014 after several nights of rioting over the police killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager.
Protesters set a police vehicle ablaze and fires broke out at gas station, an auto parts store and at least three other businesses, officials and local media reported. Milwaukee police announced that four officers had been injured, a store had windows broken and 14 people were arrested.
The turbulent weekend prompted Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to declare a state of emergency, but the National Guard was not deployed Monday as local police tried to restore order. The officer who ultimately stopped Smith was also an African-American, who has been in the force for six years.
Police Chief Edward Flynn says the fatal shooting of Sylville Smith on Saturday was a flashpoint for underlying tensions. Barrett said the officer was wearing a body camera. A police officer was injured and also taken to the hospital after a rock broke the windshield of a squad auto, according to Milwaukee Police.
Clarke said, “Well, first of all, the social order in Milwaukee totally collapsed on Saturday night”. Police said firefighters could not for a time get close to the blaze because of gunshots. He was placed on administrative duty until an investigation and subsequent review by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office is complete, a standard practice after shootings by law enforcement officers.
The suspect, 23, was shot twice – in the arm and chest, the mayor said. Chief Ed Flynn had asked for what’s known as a collaborative reform process after the federal government said it wouldn’t pursue criminal civil rights charges against the officer.
Smith and a passenger fled the vehicle as officers approached the auto. Police did not say who shot the man, but that they continue to look for suspects. Buildings have been burned down, several arrests, officers injured.
Crowds gathered after the shooting to protest another police killing during the night in the Sherman Park neighborhood of the U.S. Midwestern city.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has issued a proclamation applying the city’s curfew for teenagers to 17-year-olds. That means giving whatever we can to the streets of Milwaukee because the streets are hurting’.
During the chase, an officer shot one of the two – a 23-year-old man who was armed with a handgun, according to authorities.
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The second night of disorder heightened concern that Milwaukee, with a glittering lakefront that belies its stark racial and economic divides, might be in the opening days of sustained protests about the practices of the police. According to the Milwaukee Police Department, Smith was armed during the incident.
