THE CHARRED AFTERMATH OF A GAS STATION FIRE THAT OCCURRED DURING VIOLENT PROTESTS IN MILWAUKEE, TRIGGERED BY THE FATAL POLICE SHOOTING OF A 23-YEAR OLD AFRICAN-AMERICAN MAN.
• The man whose fatal shooting by Milwaukee police triggered hours of violent protests on the city’s predominantly black north side was a 23-year-old black man and father to a toddler, his mother and police said Sunday.
Police Chief Ed Flynn says six businesses were set on fire Saturday, 17 unruly protesters were arrested and four officers were injured by flying concrete or glass. That includes a female officer who was concussed and needed seven stitches after being struck by concrete.
Sunday morning, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker activated National Guard troops.
Flynn on Sunday identified Sylville Smith as the man shot after he fled a traffic stop. Mayor Tom Barrett said it was clear from police body camera footage that Smith was holding a gun when he was shot several times.
“It was in his hand. He was raising up with it,” Flynn said at a news conference.
Mildred Haynes earlier told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Smith, her son, was the man killed and said police had told her little about his death. “My son is gone due to the police killing my son,” she said Sunday. “I am lost.”
She said he had a two-yearold son.
Milwaukee, a city of 600,000 where roughly 40 per cent of residents are black, was beset by protests and calls for police reform after an officer shot and killed Dontre Hamilton, a mentally ill black man, in 2014. 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, La., and Dallas, Tex.
Alderman Khalif Rainey, who represents the neighbourhood that erupted, said the city’s black residents are “tired of living under this oppression.
“Now this is a warning cry. Where do we go from here? Where do we go as a community from here?” he asked.
Saturday night’s conflict began with a traffic stop about 3:30 p.m., police said. After being pulled over, two individuals fled from the car, prompting the officer — a black 24-year-old with six years of experience, according to Flynn — to chase them, ABC reported.
During a midnight news conference, Mayor Tom Barrett stood beside city leaders to plead for an end to the chaos that had been unfolding for hours on city streets.
“We have to have calm,” Barrett said. “There are a lot of really good people who live in this neighbourhood.”
After watching the officer’s body camera footage, Flynn said the entire incident took about 25 seconds, from the start of the traffic stop until shots were fired. He said Smith ran “a few dozen feet” after being stopped, and turned toward the officer while holding the gun.
Smith was accused in a shooting last year and charged with recklessly endangering safety, a felony. He was subsequently accused of pressuring the victim to recant statements that identified him as the gunman and was charged with trying to intimidate a witness, the newspaper reported.
It’s unclear why both charges were dropped.
He also pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon in 2014. Smith was cited for driving without a license or insurance, speeding and driving with open intoxicants earlier this year.
Flynn said he didn’t know what prompted the traffic stop, but described Smith’s car as “behaving suspiciously” and suggested it was a rental car that may have been stolen.
On Sunday morning, about three dozen volunteers swept up glass and filled trash bags with rocks, bricks and bottles at the intersection where a gas station burned to the ground.
Darlene Rose, 31, said that she understands the anger that fuelled the violence, but that it doesn’t help.
“I feel like if you’re going to make a difference, it’s got to be an organized difference,” Rose said. “The people that came and looted, you’re not going to see them here today.”