This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/14/violence-milwaukee-police-shoot-dead-armed-suspect

The article has changed 12 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Violence in Milwaukee after police shoot dead armed suspect Milwaukee violence after police shoot dead armed suspect
(about 2 hours later)
Protesters fired gunshots, hurled bricks and set a petrol station on fire in Milwaukee on Saturday night, hours after a patrol officer shot and killed an armed suspect who fled after a traffic stop, authorities said. Scores of protesters clashed with police, set fire to buildings and threw rocks and bricks in Milwaukee on Saturday night, after an officer shot and killed an armed man who fled from police earlier that evening.
The 23-year-old suspect, who had a lengthy arrest record, was carrying a stolen handgun loaded with 23 rounds of ammunition when police pulled over the vehicle for suspicious activity, authorities said. A second suspect who fled from the vehicle was quickly taken into custody. Skirmishes between protesters and police continue on the city’s north side until after midnight, when mayor Tom Barrett pleaded for calm in a televised news conference. “We have to have calm,” he said. “There are a lot of really good people who live in this neighborhood.”
A statement by the Milwaukeepolice department did not say whether the suspect had fired any shots or pointed the weapon at officers during the incident. A fire burned for hours at a gas station in Sherman Park, with firefighters unable to approach because of gunshots in the area. They also extinguished blazes at a bank branch, car parts store and beauty supply store.
The force did not disclose the race or the name of the suspect or the uniformed officer. Police arrested three people by the night’s end, Barett said. One officer was injured by a brick hurled into a squad car. Another car was set alight and had its windows broken, the Milwaukee police said.
After the shooting, which occurred in a predominately African-American area of Milwaukee, protesters fired shots and hurled rocks as police attempted to disperse the crowd, which local media reported numbered more than 100. The protests began after a 23-year-old man was shot dead when he fled from a traffic stop. Police said he was armed with a semiautomatic weapon, but they did not describe details of the shooting, except to say he was hit by bullets twice, in the chest and arm. Barrett said the officer who killed the man was wearing a body camera, and that the state was investigating the shooting.
The windows of at least two squad cars were smashed, and one officer sitting inside one of the vehicles was hit in the head with a brick. Neither the man killed nor the officer were named or identified by race, though police said the officer had been with the department for six years, three as an officer.
Protesters set another police car on fire and a petrol station ablaze. Fires broke out at at least three other businesses, including an car parts store, WISN television reported. The handgun was traced to a burglary in nearby Waukesha in March, according to police, and the killed man, who had a lengthy criminal record, had been stopped for what Barrett called “suspicious activity”.
“Our city is in turmoil tonight,” said Ashanti Hamilton, president of the Milwaukee common council, at a news conference as he appealed for calm. “There were 23 rounds in that gun that that officer was staring at,” Barrett said. “I want to make sure we don’t lose any police officers in this community, either.”
The disturbances were the latest in a series of protests, most of them peaceful, that have broken out in US cities over the past two years after high-profile killings by law enforcement officers in Baltimore, New York and Ferguson, Missouri. Tensions have intensified between local black residents and police in recent weeks, in parallel with national anxieties about police abuses and violence targeted toward officers. In July the city saw protests over the shooting of 25-year-old Jay Andreson, who was shot dead in a suburb west of Milwaukee, and in 2014 there were protests over the killing of 31-year-old Dontre Hamilton.
The outrage over police violence has given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement and touched off a national debate over race and policing in the US. In December the Justice Department and Milwaukee police department began a joint “collaborative reform initiative”, and a federal assessment is expected this fall. The project was announced after the Justice Department declined to open a civil rights investigation into Hamilton’s killing.
“This is a warning cry,” said the Milwaukee alderman Khalif Rainey. “Black people of Milwaukee are tired. They are tired of living under this oppression.” The officer who killed the man on Saturday night was placed on administrative leave.
By 1am local time police had made three arrests in connection with the unrest, said the assistant police chief James Harpole, adding that gunshots were fired from various locations during the disturbances. “Our city is in turmoil tonight,” said Ashanti Hamilton, president of the Milwaukee common council, alluding to violence that had wracked the city in the last 24 hours.
The officer involved in the shooting is 24 years old and a six-year veteran of the force, police said. He was placed on administrative duty during the investigation and subsequent review by the Milwaukee county district attorney’s office, a standard practice after shootings by police officers. Five people were killed in nine shootings over nine hours across the city on Friday and Saturday, including a 36-year-old and 34-year-old who were fatally wounded outside a bar.
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. By 1am local time, police had made three arrests in connection with the unrest, assistant police chief James Harpole said, adding that gunshots were fired from various locations during the disturbances. Another police official, Bill Jessup, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it was not clear if the suspect pointed the gun or fired at the officers.
“Those additional facts will come out in the coming days,” Jessup said.“Those additional facts will come out in the coming days,” Jessup said.
Saturday’s police shooting came after a violent night in Milwaukee. Five men were killed in nine shootings across the city, including a 36-year-old and 34-year-old who were fatally wounded outside a bar. “As everyone knows, this was a very, very violent 24 hours in the city of Milwaukee,” he said. “Our officers are out here taking risks on behalf of the community and making split-second decisions.”
T