The fatal police shooting of an armed man ignited violent protests in Milwaukee Saturday night.
Police said an angry crowd hit one officer in the head with a brick, set fires and shot guns near in the clashes on the city’s North Side. Officers decked out in riot gear made at least three arrests as firefighters rushed to put out the blazes.
Crowd breaks widows of unoccupied squad near Sherman and Auer. Other squad set afire and broken windows on another. pic.twitter.com/Jux2mJZYyQ
— Milwaukee Police (@MilwaukeePolice) August 14, 2016
“This is a situation where we are asking every resident of this community to do everything they can to restore order,” Mayor Tom Barrett said at a news conference early Sunday, according to WISN-TV. “If you love your son, if you love your daughter, text them, call them, pull them by the ears and get ‘em home.”
The uproar followed a traffic stop and chase around 3:30 p.m. accordingto Milwaukee police. The 23-year-old man killed by police and another suspect ditched a car and ran after the stop at N. 44th St. and W. Auer Ave, investigators said.
Near 44th and Auer pic.twitter.com/kQmiaCOOWh
— Ashley Luthern (@aluthern) August 14, 2016
The fatal police shooting of an armed man ignited violent protests in Milwaukee Saturday night.
Police said an angry crowd hit one officer in the head with a brick, set fires and shot guns near in the clashes on the city’s North Side. Officers decked out in riot gear made at least three arrests as firefighters rushed to put out the blazes.
“This is a situation where we are asking every resident of this community to do everything they can to restore order,” Mayor Tom Barrett said at a news conference early Sunday, according to WISN-TV. “If you love your son, if you love your daughter, text them, call them, pull them by the ears and get ‘em home.”
The uproar followed a traffic stop and chase around 3:30 p.m. accordingto Milwaukee police. The 23-year-old man killed by police and another suspect ditched a car and ran after the stop at N. 44th St. and W. Auer Ave, investigators said.
One of the men was carrying a stolen semiautomatic handgun, and a Milwaukee officer shot him during the foot chase, according to police. The officer ordered him to drop the gun but hit him in the chest and the arm when he didn’t, cops said.
Barrett said the officer was wearing a body camera. Officers captured the other suspect after the shooting, according to police.
Over 100 people demonstrated near the scene of the shooting in protests that started out peaceful, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. The protest devolved even after a woman who identified herself as a family member of the dead man asked everyone to leave.
“We don’t want anyone else to go to jail or get hurt,” she pleaded, according to the newspaper.
One officer was hospitalized after a brick came through the window of a police cruiser, hitting the cop in the head, police said. There was no immediate word on additional injuries.
The crowd set a gas station on fire atSherman Blvd. and Burleigh St., according to the Milwaukee Police Department. Yet firefighters could not put out the blaze at first because gunfire had erupted nearby, police said.
Another scene from the unrest tonight as smoke hangs in the street. Our coverage here: https://t.co/u2RE4DBrQG pic.twitter.com/QfFsEVsZU1
— Journal Sentinel (@journalsentinel) August 14, 2016
Barrett said at least four buildings had been set aflame during the chaos. The Milwaukee police tweeted an image of an empty squad car with its windows smashed. The demonstrators set another cruiser on fire and busted the windows of a third squad car, police said.
“Large police presence in area of Sherman and Auer,” the department tweetedon Saturday night. “Officers working on peacefully dispersing crowd.”
Assistant Chief James Harpole told reporters early Sunday that the crowd had finally begun to go home.
“It appears that, at this point, we have been able to regain stability,” Harpole said. “It’s still a tense situation.”
Police said the crowd also tossed rocks at them as they tried to clear the neighborhood. The crowd knocked down and punched one reporter for the local newspaper and chased other journalists from the area, according to the Journal-Sentinel.
“Just had rocks thrown at me photographing this burn[ing] car at Sherman Blvd near Auer,” photojournalist Mike De Sisti tweeted. The newspaper later said on Twitter that its staff members had left the area safely.
The races and names of the suspect killed by police and the officer who gunned him down were also not clear Saturday night.
Police described the gunman as a Milwaukee man with a lengthy arrest record. YetNefataria Gordon told the Sentinel she was close with the man who died Saturday afternoon.
“He was a nice good person,” Gordon said. “He was really respected. That’s why everyone came out. They’re angry.”
The man’s gun came from a burglary in nearby Waukesha, according to investigators. The victim said 500 rounds of ammunition were also taken during the March robbery, police said.
The 24-year-old third-year officer who killed him did not suffer any injuries. Police placed him on administrative review as they began investigating the shooting Saturday.
“Right now, we have to have calm. There are a lot of really good people who live in this neighborhood,” Barrett said. “It’s not the Milwaukee that anyone wants to see.”
