Violence continued for a second night in Milwaukee, as protestors fired shots and attacked police with rocks and bricks.
One victim was shot during the Monday unrest and rushed to a hospital in an armored vehicle. A police officer was injured and also taken to the hospital after a rock broke the windshield of a squad car, according to Milwaukee Police. The damage was not as extensive as the protests from the previous night.
Riots erupted on Saturday night, following the police-involved shooting of a black 23-year-old armed suspect. Sylville Smith fled from police and then turned around and pointed a gun at the officers before he was shot twice.
On Saturday, “protesters torched six businesses, including a gas station, burned cars and threw rocks at officers. During the first night of protests, four officers were injured and 17 people were arrested,” Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said.
The unrest continued into Sunday when shots were fired in at least three locations. A police car was hit with bricks, rocks and glass bottles. Another car was set on fire.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:
Just after midnight, lines of police began moving down Burleigh St. telling people they were in an unlawful assembly. Several protesters were handcuffed and taken into custody after they refused repeated requests to leave the area.
Early Monday morning, police responded to a car fire at 45th St. and Hadley St.
Order was restored to the area around 2:30 a.m. Monday morning.
Milwaukee police revealed that the officer who shot Smith was also black. Chief Edward Flynn also said the suspect had a “lengthy arrest record” and that a still image from the police officer’s body cam shows “without question” that Smith was armed with a gun in his hand when he was shot.
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