Police have only confirmed that the officer was black. He was taken to a hospital, but Flynn said his life was not in danger.
Advertisement
Monday was calm, though 10 people were arrested and there were no reports of protesters on Tuesday. “Subjectively there’s been less tonight than there was last night”, he said.
Residents in a Milwaukee neighborhood marred by violence and destruction in the wake of a police shooting are waking up after a much calmer night.
Mayor Tom Barrett struck a note of cautious optimism, calling the developments on Monday night “very encouraging”, but warning that “things could happen later this evening”.
More than 100 people protested on Saturday over the shooting. He also greeted Milwaukee officers at Police District 3 not far from Sherman Park. However, the department is investigating local threats against officers.
Burning down neighborhood business establishments, throwing bricks at cops, trashing police cars and chasing white people – all features of the Milwaukee riots – may feel good, but they are simply more symptoms of the social breakdown that police are asked to respond to every day. Smith was carrying a stolen handgun he refused to drop before he was killed, police said. But, overall, the city’s north side Sherman Park neighborhood was quieter Sunday compared to Saturday when four businesses were burned down and hundreds of people protested the shooting of Sylville Smith, 23.
Police Chief Edward Flynn said the man whose death touched off Saturday night’s rioting, Sylville Smith, was shot after he turned toward an officer with a gun in his hand.
Meanwhile, District 7 Police Station closed Monday afternoon because of unspecified threats, according to a police spokesman who would not say how many hours the station was closed.
Gunfire was reported Sunday night, leaving at least one person seriously injured. Anyone under 18 years old needs to be home by 10 p.m.to comply with the ordinance.
Deacon Johnny Winston, the leader of the protesters said; “They jumped out of cars with rifles and billy clubs, We just wanted to get our point across”.
Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn says there is body-cam video of the shooting that shows Smith pointed a gun at police.
Smith’s sister Kimberly Neal mourned a brother she described as a high school graduate who played basketball, not a “man with a lengthy arrest record” described by police.
The police shooting brought numerous festering racial tensions to surface.
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where 37-year-old Alton Sterling was fatally shot in July during a struggle with two white police officers, protests largely dissipated after three law enforcement officers were killed in a shooting attack that appeared to target police.
Advertisement
While some members of the black community have chosen to focus on the shooting itself, directing menacing language and death threats at the officer involved, others are choosing to use the situation to highlight the problems that have plagued the city for generations.
