Milwaukee Riots After Police Shoot Armed Black Suspect; Police Cars Burned, Officer Injured

milwaukee
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL-SENTINEL VIA AP
Warner Todd Huston
Milwaukee, WS

UPDATES:

Photos, videos, and new developments:

Someone fired shots at Milwaukee Police Department headquarters today.

Revealed: the name of the man fatally shot before the riots — and the ethnicity of the officer.

Milwaukee police have identified the 23-year-old man who was shot and killed by an officer Saturday afternoon.
The man has been identified as Sylville K. Smith. Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said Smith has a lengthy arrest record.

Governor Scott Walker declares a State of Emergency in Milwaukee County and deploys the National Guard.

 

Milwauke Police Association strongly rejects a Black Lives Matter-friendly angle in their response to last night’s chaos. “Our ranks are broad and diverse; derived from all God’s children… Leadership must denounce riotous behavior!”

Sheriff Clarke requests National Guard mobilization.

Trump will campaign in the area Tuesday. Breitbart’s Neil McCabe reports:

Donald J. Trump rallies supporters in the Milwaukee suburb of West Bend, Wisconsin Tuesday, two days after protesters unleashed a wave of angry mobs, gunfire and arson upon the state’s largest city, which sits 90 miles due north from Chicago on Lake Michigan’s west coast.

This video of a young man explaining the cause has been making the rounds:

https://twitter.com/itsbizkit/status/764839099152928768

A bystander offers some colorful commentary at a business being looted (NSFW language):

https://twitter.com/itsbizkit/status/764835243908038656

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Late on Saturday afternoon police in Milwaukee, Wisconsin shot an armed suspect fleeing from a car on the city’s North Side. Not long after the shooting a large group of residents initiated a confrontation with police that included at least one squad car being burned. A gas station and other autos were also torched.

The officer-involved shooting occurred at around 3:30 PM and involved two MPD officers who had stopped a car near the 3200 block of N. 44th Street. The two suspects inside fled on foot with the officers giving chase. In short order one of the suspects pointed a semi-automatic pistol at the officers and was killed, according to CBS.

In the hours after the shooting groups of residents in the mostly African-American neighborhood gathered near the crime scene and soon began taunting police officers investigating the incident.

The taunting continued for some time and then turned violent, with police cars being swarmed and pelted with bricks and rocks as a small-scale riot broke out.

Some 100 protesters engaged in a standoff with police, some of whom had responded in riot gear. As the riot grew in intensity cop cars were stoned and one set aflame.

The conflagration grew from there with other cars being set on fire. A local gas station also became engulfed in flames.

The MPD said that someone in the crowd began firing shots, perhaps in the air, according to the Milwaukee Sentinel. There have yet to be reports of anyone being hit by gunfire.

Police also reported on Twitter that Milwaukee fire fighters were kept from extinguishing the flames because shots were being fired by some of the rioters.

Officials added that thus far one officer was injured by a brick thrown through the windshield of his squad car.

Milwaukee Police Assistant Chief Bill Jessup told the media on Saturday evening that the 23-year-old man shot earlier in the day had a lengthy police record.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.

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