Smith was reportedly shot while fleeing a traffic stop. The officer’s identity has not been released. Wisconsin’s governor put the National Guard on standby to protect against further violence. “A plan that’s fluid”, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke told a press conference.
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The mayor of the USA city of Milwaukee says a still image pulled from a police officer’s body camera shows “without question” that the black man shot by an officer was holding a gun in his hand at the time of the shooting.
After the vigil, many of those gathered went across the street to the ruins of a gas station destroyed in the violence and began singing hymns.
At least three people have been arrested during the latest wave of violence in Wisconsin which follows recent unrest over the shooting of several black men in separate incidents across the country last month.
One police officer was hospitalised after a rock smashed a patrol auto windshield, officials said, while another squad vehicle was damaged by rioters hurling bricks, rocks and bottles.
Tensions rise again in Milwaukee with one person shot in the neighborhood where the fatal shooting of a suspect by a police officer touched off rioting and arson the previous night.
One victim was shot during the Monday unrest and rushed to a hospital in an armored vehicle.
Police say Smith fled during a traffic stop and was armed. There was no repeat of the widespread destruction of property that marred Saturday night’s unrest. “Based on what I saw, didn’t hear, don’t know what the autopsy results are going to be, he certainly appeared to be within lawful bounds”, Flynn said of the officer. Milwaukee Police Assistant Chief Bill Jessup told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it was not clear if the suspect pointed the gun or fired at the officers. But he also called for understanding for Smith’s family. Four police officers were also injured, according to reports.
“One hundred twenty-five members of the national guard are on their way to Milwaukee as we speak”, he confirmed in a news briefing Sunday afternoon. “And no matter what the circumstances are, his family has to be hurting”. Flynn is not identifying the officer for that reason, but does say he is African-American and has six years of service with the department.
The shooting occurred when a pair of police officers stopped Smith and another person in a vehicle on Saturday about 3:30 p.m., police said, as reported by CNN.
Overnight, as police were trying to disperse the crowd of at least 200 protesters, individuals attending the rally fired dozens of shots, apparently in the air, authorities said.
Smith had a “lengthy arrest record”, police said on Sunday.
The victim has been identified by CNN as Sylville Smith.
A Milwaukee teenager was recovering from a serious gunshot wound Monday morning following a second night of chaotic protests in the city over the police shooting of an armed black man.
Almost 40 percent of Milwaukee’s 600,000 residents are Black, and they are heavily concentrated on the north side.
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Milwaukee’s mayor and police chief say outsiders are fomenting the unrest that has wreaked havoc in a north side neighborhood for two nights since a black man was fatally shot by a black officer. State law requires all police shootings to be investigated by an independent state agency, giving the state control over such evidence.
