The Slatest

Violent Protests Erupt in Milwaukee Following Fatal Police Shooting

A police car with broken windows is seen in a photograph released by the Milwaukee Police Department after disturbances following the police shooting of a man in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 13, 2016.  

 

Milwaukee Police/Handout via Reuters

Milwaukee is reeling Sunday after a night of violent protests that followed a police officer’s deadly shooting of an armed man. Local officials called for calm and vowed to meet with community and church leaders throughout the day to try to figure out how to prevent the shockingly violent scenes that quickly engulfed Milwaukee’s north side Saturday night from happening again.

Protesters smashed police cars and set fire to a gas station and at least three other businesses. Firefighters were not immediately sent in to douse the flames amid reports of gunfire. Video posted on Twitter appears to have recorded at least some of the gunfire that doesn’t seem to have injured anyone. One police officer was reportedly hospitalized with injuries after a brick was thrown into his squad car. Three people were arrested.

The protests were sparked by an officer-involved shooting that took place on Saturday afternoon. Police say a 23-year-old man who was carrying a semiautomatic handgun was shot and killed while he was running away from police after a traffic stop. It is not clear though whether the man was pointing the gun at police or anybody else. Police say the officer ordered the 23-year-old to drop his gun. When he didn’t, the officer fired several times and hit the man twice. Police did not reveal the race of the 24-year-old police officer or of the man he killed, only saying the suspect has a “lengthy arrest record” and the handgun he was carrying had been stolen in March.

Around 100 protesters took to the streets hours later, smashed police cars and set fire to  cars and businesses in the area. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett led an early morning news conference calling on everyone in the community to do their part to help restore order. “If you love your son, if you love your daughter, text them, call them, pull them by the ears and get ‘em home,” he said. Barrett said protesters had used social media to call on more people to join the demonstrations.

Bystanders were also caught up in the violence. Local station WTMJ said it pulled its reporters from the area following threats of violence from some in the crowd. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said that at one point “the crowd turned on and chased reporters and a photographer.” One reporter for the newspaper was “shoved to the ground and punched.” Police sent out a message on Twitter at 2:20 a.m. saying that police were restoring order.

“I never thought I would see my own city in a state of unrest and a potential riot,” a resident told WDJT.

The area where the violent protests took place is no stranger to violence. The police shooting occurred about one block from where a homicide took place Friday evening and four blocks from the location a double homicide on Saturday morning. City Alderman Khalif Rainey described the area as a “powder keg” of violence this summer. “What happened tonight may not have been right and I am not justifying that but no one can deny the fact that there are problems, racial problems in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that need to be rectified,” Rainey said. “This community of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has become the worst place to live for African Americans in the entire country.”

Milwaukee “can be a great place to live — unless you’re black,” wrote NPR’s Kenya Downs last year. “Statistically, it is one of the worst places in the country for African-Americans to reside.”