Officials said on Monday they plan to more strictly enforce a 10 p.m. curfew in place for teenagers following the second night of unrest. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn has identified the suspect as Sylville Smith.
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Some two dozen officers in riot gear confronted about 150 people who blocked an intersection on Sunday near the scene of the fatal shooting.
The anger at Milwaukee police is not new and comes as tension between Black communities and law enforcement has ramped up across the nation, resulting in protests and the recent ambush killings of eight officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dallas.
Fourteen people were arrested Sunday after protesters lit six businesses on fire, including a gas station, torched squad cars, and heaved rocks at officers, according to the Milwaukee Police Department. One 18-year old male civilian suffered a single gunshot wound to the neck in the course of the protests and police transported him to the hospital where he is still being treated.
Normally, the agency doesn’t release the videos of a shooting or death until the investigation is complete and a district attorney has decided whether to issue charges.
An 18-year-old man was shot and wounded during the latest unrest, which was milder and far less destructive than Saturday night’s confrontation but still left the city tense.
Officials sought to correct false information they said was being disseminated around the community, with Chief Flynn calling the rumors that Smith wasn’t armed “totally wrong”. “A number of individuals spoke at the vigil, which easily could have been an excuse to incite, but rather there were consistent calls for calm, discussion and peaceful change”, Flynn said.
Flynn also said that officers came under fire Sunday but that no officers returned fire.
“There were groups of young people in particular, who were traveling in the streets”, Mayor Tom Barrett told a news conference on Monday.
Barrett praised pastors and community group leaders who are engaged in trying to keep the peace, saying they are making the situation better. Shots rang out during unrest after a police shooting that killed a man Saturday.
Barrett said ongoing violence is harming the city and the neighborhood.
In Sherman Park on Sunday, many expressed similar concerns of overly aggressive policing.
Police say Sylville Smith and another person ran from the cops who pulled them over at a traffic stop. The chief said many people outside the neighborhood were using that for their own agendas. Arrest records for Smith released by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday showed that Smith had been arrested at least nine times since 2011 on charges including robbery, carrying a concealed weapon, and drug possession. A black police officer then shot and killed Mr Smith after he failed to drop a gun, according to the authorities. The police say they brought him to the hospital in an armored auto. It was the second night of violence in one of Milwaukee’s predominantly black neighborhoods. Officers used an armored vehicle to retrieve the injured man and take him to a hospital. There has been no update on his condition.
Around midnight, the Police Department said on Twitter that it was “working to restore order” in the area.
The violence reignited on Sunday night when the police said gunfire erupted during disorderly protests at three different intersections in the predominantly black neighborhood of Sherman Park. Some have added force to their protest by attacking police property. They threw bottles, chunks of concrete and rocks at officers. Police took the injured person to a hospital in an armored vehicle.
It was not immediately clear if there were arrests Sunday night.
The destruction of private property in Milwaukee over the weekend has been unnecessary, counterproductive, and appalling.
The problems began Saturday afternoon after a black police officer shot and killed a black man after a traffic stop. Police moved in to try to disperse the crowd.
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But Flynn, the police chief, said body camera video that investigators have seen shows that there was a “credible threat” to the officer.
