Police said one person was shot at a Milwaukee protest on Sunday and officers used an armored vehicle to retrieve the injured victim and take the person to a hospital, as tense skirmishes erupted for a second night following the police shooting of a black man.
Some two dozen officers in riot gear confronted about 150 people who blocked an intersection near the fatal shooting Saturday afternoon, and more arrived. Police moved in to try to disperse the crowd and warned of arrests after protesters threw bottles and rocks at police and shots were fired.
Earlier Sunday, police Chief Edward Flynn said the man whose death touched off Saturday night’s rioting was shot after he turned toward an officer with a gun in his hand.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker put the National Guard on standby for any repeat of violence. Protests were peaceful most of Sunday evening before the confrontation after 11 p.m.
Flynn cautioned that the shooting was still under investigation and authorities were awaiting autopsy results, but that based on the silent video from the unidentified officer’s body camera, he “certainly appeared to be within lawful bounds.”
At the same news conference, Mayor Tom Barrett said a still image pulled from the footage clearly showed a gun in 23-year-old Sylville K. Smith’s hand as he fled a traffic stop Saturday.
“I want our community to know that,” Barrett said. But he also called for understanding for Smith’s family.
“A young man lost his life yesterday afternoon,” the mayor said. “And no matter what the circumstances are, his family has to be hurting.”
Flynn declined to identify the officer who shot Smith but said he is black. The police chief said he wasn’t sure what prompted the stop but described Smith’s car as “behaving suspiciously.”
After watching the officer’s body camera footage, Flynn said the entire episode took about 25 seconds, from the start of the traffic stop until shots were fired. He said Smith ran “a few dozen feet” and turned toward the officer while holding a gun.
“It was in his hand. He was raising up with it,” the chief said. He said the officer had told Smith to drop the gun and he did not do so. It was unclear how many rounds the officer fired. Smith was hit in the chest and arm, Flynn said.
Walker activated Wisconsin’s National Guard, and 125 Guard members reported to local armories to prepare for further instructions. Flynn said they would not be deployed unless the chief decided to do so. Flynn said 150 department officers specially trained in managing big protests had also been mobilized.