Violence Erupts in Milwaukee After Police Shooting

14 Aug, 2016

Protesters in a poor, predominantly black neighborhood of the U.S. midwestern city of Milwaukee fired gunshots, hurled bricks and set a gas station on fire on Saturday night after a patrol officer shot dead an armed suspect there, authorities said.

Police did not disclose the race of the suspect or the officer involved in the shooting, which occurred on Saturday afternoon in Sherman Park. The violence comes as anger over police killings of black men and women in the United States remains unabated.

A statement by the Milwaukee Police Department did not name the suspect but said he was 23 years old, had a lengthy arrest record and was carrying a stolen handgun loaded with 23 rounds of ammunition when police pulled over the vehicle for unspecified “suspicious activity.”

The statement did not say whether he fired any shots or pointed the weapon at officers. A second suspect who fled from the vehicle was quickly taken into custody.

The officer who shot the suspect has been placed on administrative duty pending an investigation bu the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, police said.

Police said that after the shooting, some residents of Sherman Park came out onto the streets and that by evening, initially peaceful gatherings had turned violent.

The crowd fired gunshots, smashed the windows of at least two squad cars and set another one ablaze, police said. One officer was hit in the head with a brick.

Fires broke out at gas station, an auto parts store and at least three other businesses, officials and local media reported.

“This is a warning cry,” Milwaukee Alderman Khalif Rainey said. “Black people of Milwaukee are tired. They are tired of living under this oppression.”

Police violence against black men and women has sparked intermittent, sometimes violent protests in U.S. cities from Ferguson, Baltimore and New York in the past two years.

The outrage has given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement and touched off a national debate over race and policing in the United States.

Reuters

Image Milwaukee Police twitter

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