Violent crowd gathers after Milwaukee cop kills man

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Violent crowd gathers after Milwaukee cop kills man
The Associated Press
First posted: Saturday, August 13, 2016 11:26 PM EDT | Updated: Sunday, August 14, 2016 01:00 AM EDT
MILWAUKEE -- A crowd of protesters skirmished with police Saturday night in a Milwaukee neighbourhood where an officer shot and killed a man after a traffic stop and foot chase earlier in the day, setting fire to a police car and torching a gas station. One officer was hurt by a thrown brick.
Police said the 23-year-old man was armed with a handgun, but Assistant Chief Bill Jessup told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it wasn't immediately clear whether the man had pointed a gun or fired at the officer. They described the man as a suspect, but didn't say what led to the traffic stop.
The races of the man and the officer weren't immediately released.
Police with shields and helmets moved slowly into an intersection after 11 p.m., telling a crowd of about 50 people to disperse. Protesters threw rocks and other debris at police, who held up their shields. At least two bus shelters had been thrown into the street, with their glass shattered.
Protesters also began throwing objects at a business a half-block from the intersection. A nearby traffic light was bent over.
Police tweeted that shots had been fired and arrests were being made.
It was at least the second confrontation at the intersection, following an earlier standoff involving more than 100 people pushing against 20 to 30 officers. Officers got in their cars to leave at one point and some in the crowd started smashing a squad car's windows. Another police car was set on fire. The newspaper also reported that one of its reporters was shoved to the ground and punched.
The Police Department tweeted that one officer was taken to a hospital after he was struck by a brick thrown through his squad car window. Police also tweeted that a gas station had been set on fire. They said firefighters couldn't extinguish the blaze because gunshots were being fired.
A Milwaukee police spokesman didn't immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.
The shooting that sparked the tensions occurred about 3:30 p.m. after officers stopped a car with two people inside.
Police Capt. Mark Stanmeyer said in a news release that the two people in the car got out and ran and that the officers chased them. He said a man who was one of the people fleeing was armed with a handgun and was shot by an officer during the pursuit. He said the man died at the scene.
The man's name wasn't immediately released. Stanmeyer said he had an arrest record, and that the handgun he carried had been stolen in a March burglary in suburban Waukesha.
The 24-year-old officer who shot the man has been placed on administrative duty. The officer's name wasn't immediately released. He has been with the Milwaukee department six years, three as an officer.
A car burns as a crowd of more than 100 people gathers following the fatal shooting of a man in Milwaukee, Saturday, Aug. 13, 2016. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that officers got in their cars to leave at one point, and some in the crowd started smashing a squad car's window, and another vehicle, pictured, was set on fire. The gathering occurred in the neighborhood where a Milwaukee officer shot and killed a man police say was armed hours earlier during a foot chase. (Calvin Mattheis/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)

Violent crowd gathers after Milwaukee cop kills man | World | News | Toronto Sun
 
Locutus

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No doubt it won't take long until a crowd gathers here to point out all the evils of law enforcement whilst a similar crowd will be talking only of the criminal element. Hard lines, with no movement.

This is why cities burn.

While law enforcement does, on occasion fvck up (but when they do, they tend to fvck up royally), from everything I've read on this it does not appear to be the case in this instance, although there is more to unfold I'm sure. Still that didn't prevent a small group of citizens from burning their own city, endangering who knows how many people in the process (lighting gas stations on fire can tend to cause very large explosions), including police officers out trying to prevent further damage and harm.

It's a vicious cycle. Anger, frustration, these things anyone can understand and even sympathize with, but these kinds of actions need to be unequivocally condemned.
 
MHz

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When in doubt to what caused strange acts of anger, check the quality of the water and the air. Perhaps a local condition can create a low 02 zone when you get a lot of big people hyperventilating all at once. That drop in 02 getting to the brain lets the ;fight part' take control as the 'flee' choice seems to not be available right then. Once they disperse they get back to the level that is just above that zone of collective rage.
 
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Man shot in Milwaukee had a gun in his hand: Cops
Gretchen Ehlke and Todd Richmond, The Associated Press
First posted: Saturday, August 13, 2016 11:26 PM EDT | Updated: Sunday, August 14, 2016 10:13 AM EDT
MILWAUKEE -- The black man whose killing by police touched off rioting in Milwaukee was shot by a black officer after turning toward him with a gun in his hand, the police chief said Sunday.
Wisconsin's governor put the National Guard on standby in case of a repeat of the violence that rocked the city earlier in the weekend, but after dark on Sunday protests were so far peaceful.
Police Chief Edward 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 the 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.
Gov. Scott Walker activated Wisconsin's National Guard, and 125 Guard members were reporting to local armouries 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.
Six businesses were burned in the unrest that spilled past midnight Sunday. Seventeen people were arrested, Flynn said, and four officers were hurt from flying concrete and glass, although all of them had been released from hospital.
After dark on Sunday, about a hundred protesters marched to a police station, shouting "Indict. Convict. Send the killer cops to jail," and "Who's streets? Our streets." Police were lined up in riot gear behind a row of squad cars. The protesters were shouting at police but there had been no incidents.
Milwaukee Alderman Khalif Rainey, who represents the neighbourhood that erupted, said the city's black residents are "tired of living under this oppression."
"Now this is a warning cry. Where do we go from here? Where do we go as a community from here?" he asked.
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke said Smith had been arrested 13 times. Online court records showed a range of charges against Smith, many of them misdemeanours.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Smith was also charged in a shooting and was later charged with pressuring the victim to withdraw testimony that identified Smith as the gunman. The charges were dropped because the victim recanted the identification and failed to appear in court, Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern told the newspaper.
On Sunday morning, about three dozen volunteers swept up glass and filled trash bags with rocks, bricks and bottles at the intersection where a gas station burned to the ground. One volunteer picked up a bullet casing and handed it to police.
Darlene Rose, 31, said that she understands the anger that fueled the violence, but that it doesn't help.
"I feel like if you're going to make a difference, it's got to be an organized difference," Rose said. "The people that came and looted, you're not going to see them here today."
Smith's sister told The Associated Press that the family wants prosecutors to charge the officer who shot him.
Kimberly Neal, 24, spoke as supporters surrounded her at the vigil as she held a bouquet of blue balloons.
She asked people for donations for his burial.
Asked about the violence on Saturday night, Neal said: "People stuck together and they are trying to stand up," for their rights.
The anger at Milwaukee police is not new and comes as tension between black communities and law enforcement has ramped up across the nation, resulting in protests and the recent ambush killings of eight officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dallas.
Nearly 40 per cent of Milwaukee's 600,000 residents are black, and they are heavily concentrated on the north side.
Milwaukee was beset by protests and calls for police reform after an officer shot and killed Dontre Hamilton, a mentally ill black man, in 2014.
In December, the U.S. Justice Department announced it would work with Milwaukee police on changes.
Critics said the police department should have been subjected to a full Justice Department investigation like the one done in Ferguson, Missouri, after the killing of black 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014 touched off violence there.
The officer involved in the most recent Milwaukee shooting was 24 years old and has been an officer for three years, according to the department.
At one point Saturday evening, as many as 100 protesters massed at 44th Street and Auer Avenue, surging against a line of 20 to 30 officers. The Journal Sentinel reported that some in the crowd smashed a squad car's windows. Another police car was set on fire.
In addition to the gas station and auto parts store, a bank and a beauty supply shop were burned. Firefighters held back from the gas station blaze because of gunfire.
Associated Press writers Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee and Kyle Potter in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
Man shot in Milwaukee had a gun in his hand: Cops | World | News | Toronto Sun

One person shot in Milwaukee during 2nd night of unrest
Todd Richmond, The Associated Press
First posted: Monday, August 15, 2016 12:49 AM EDT | Updated: Monday, August 15, 2016 12:55 AM EDT
MILWAUKEE -- Police said one person was shot at a Milwaukee protest on Sunday and officers used an armoured 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 armouries 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.
Six businesses were burned in the unrest that spilled past midnight Sunday. Seventeen people were arrested, Flynn said, and four officers were hurt from flying concrete and glass, although all of them had been released from hospital.
Milwaukee Alderman Khalif Rainey, who represents the neighbourhood that erupted, said the city's black residents are "tired of living under this oppression."
"Now this is a warning cry. Where do we go from here? Where do we go as a community from here?" he asked.
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke said Smith had been arrested 13 times. Online court records showed a range of charges against Smith, many of them misdemeanours.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Smith was also charged in a shooting and was later charged with pressuring the victim to withdraw testimony that identified Smith as the gunman. The charges were dropped because the victim recanted the identification and failed to appear in court, Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern told the newspaper.
Smith's sister told The Associated Press that the family wants prosecutors to charge the officer who shot him.
Kimberly Neal, 24, spoke as supporters surrounded her at the vigil as she held a bouquet of blue balloons.
She asked people for donations for his burial.
Asked about the violence on Saturday night, Neal said: "People stuck together and they are trying to stand up," for their rights.
The anger at Milwaukee police is not new and comes as tension between black communities and law enforcement has ramped up across the nation, resulting in protests and the recent ambush killings of eight officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dallas.
Nearly 40 per cent of Milwaukee's 600,000 residents are black, and they are heavily concentrated on the north side.
Milwaukee was beset by protests and calls for police reform after an officer shot and killed Dontre Hamilton, a mentally ill black man, in 2014.
In December, the U.S. Justice Department announced it would work with Milwaukee police on changes.
Critics said the police department should have been subjected to a full Justice Department investigation like the one done in Ferguson, Missouri, after the killing of black 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014 touched off violence there.
The officer involved in the most recent Milwaukee shooting was 24 years old and has been on the force for three years, according to the department.
Associated Press writers Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee and Kyle Potter in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
Kimberly Neal collects money at a gathering in memory of her brother, Sylville Smith, 23, where he was shot and killed Saturday in Milwaukee, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016. Police in Milwaukee say a black man whose killing by police touched off arson and rock-throwing was shot by a black officer after turning toward him with a gun in his hand. Six businesses were burned in the unrest that spilled past midnight Sunday. (Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)

One person shot in Milwaukee during 2nd night of unrest | World | News | Toronto
 
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So the two guys not carrying any 'loot' hide their face while the guy with all the 'trinkets' gets his mug shown in full. Who is training these guys???
 
davesmom

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There's always a small group of militant good-for-nothings who blame everyone but themselves for their troubles and use their 'poor us' excuse to commit violence.
The county sheriff told it like it is at a press conference yesterday, citing the lack of civilized values, fatherless homes, etc. that create poor community conditions.
This small group lacks the mentality to understand that by rioting, looting and attacking the police they make matters worse for themselves.
As the sheriff explained, there are agencies to deal with and help people who have issues and that is where the complainers should be going instead of acting lawlessly and creating chaos.
I think most people would agree that most people in those communities would rather NOT act like hoodlums and thugs. Those people should police their own community and get rid of the troublemakers who give them all a bad name.
 
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Sheriff Clarke: What Causes Riots Are Failed Liberal Urban Policies

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke told Fox Business host Ashley Webster that according to the police officer’s body camera, the suspect was carrying a firearm at the time.

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Police chief was surprised by violence after fatal shooting
Todd Richmond, The Associated Press
First posted: Monday, August 15, 2016 12:49 AM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, August 16, 2016 12:33 AM EDT
MILWAUKEE -- Following a night of violence that left half a dozen businesses in flames, the Milwaukee police chief expressed surprise at the level of unrest that erupted after the fatal shooting of a black man by a black officer.
"This was, quite frankly, unanticipated," Chief Edward Flynn said Monday, two days after the worst of the rioting hit the Sherman Park neighbourhood on the city's economically depressed and largely black north side.
The chief's statement raised questions about whether authorities could have taken steps to curb the violence, perhaps by sharing details of the shooting earlier, including the officer's race or footage from his body camera.
Randolph McLaughlin, a Pace University law professor and a civil rights attorney, questioned how Milwaukee leaders could have expected the streets to stay quiet on Saturday night given the national debate about law enforcement and race.
"For a mayor to say everything's fine (and) we just killed somebody, that's turning a blind eye to his town," McLaughlin said.
He said Mayor Tom Barrett should have reached out to residents and community leaders and asked, "What do we need to do to make sure your community is safe?" McLaughlin said. "He needs to stay on the job."
David Klinger, a University of Missouri-St. Louis sociology professor who studies police use of deadly force, said it would not necessarily have helped for police to release the officer's race sooner. He pointed out that the city saw disruptions on Sunday night, after his race had been publicized, though the intensity was less than the previous night.
He also said the city may have hesitated to give the officer's race sooner for fear it would identify him.
Remy Cross, a criminologist at Webster University in St. Louis, said the officer's race probably does not matter to many people in the community.
"They see the institution as racist, not the individual," Cross said. "Once you put on the uniform, you're blue, and blue sees black as bad."
Flynn said it was "an error in narrative to assume" that because police shot someone that the shooting will be controversial "so let's have a riot."
Cecil Brewer, 67, who owns an apartment house directly across from the intersection where protesters burned a gas station on Saturday night and hurled rocks at police on Sunday night, said the rioting was all but inevitable.
"There's so much anger in these kids," Brewer said. The shooting "was like a spark in a powder keg. It doesn't matter to them if what the authorities are saying is true."
The city was calmer on Monday evening, Flynn said at a press conference after a 10 p.m. curfew went effect. Six arrests were made early Monday evening after some "heated confrontations" but there was no destruction of property or rioting, he said. The situation seemed to calm down after the arrests, Flynn said. A curfew for those under the age of 18 appeared to work well with the aid of community leaders and parents, Barrett said.
The problems began Saturday afternoon when police stopped a rental car that was driving suspiciously, Flynn said. Sylville Smith bolted from the car with a gun, leading an officer on a short foot chase before the officer shot the 23-year-old. Police said the man was fleeing a traffic stop but released few other details.
The violence erupted later that evening.
During a news conference around midnight calling for calm, Barrett said people were gathering at the scene when he left at 5 p.m. Saturday, but they were peaceful and he thought everything was under control.
At another news conference Sunday afternoon, Flynn offered new details, revealing that the officer who opened fire was black, like Smith, and said body-camera video showed Smith had turned toward the officer and refused to drop his weapon. He also said the officer shot Smith in the chest and arm. Some people interviewed on the north side had speculated that Smith was shot in the back.
The body-camera footage has not been released. It's in the custody of the state Justice Department, which is leading the investigation into the shooting.
Flynn activated the department's 150-member crowd-control team on Sunday night, and Gov. Scott Walker put the National Guard on standby if needed. Hundreds of people gathered near the scene of the shooting that evening, but remained peaceful. Most of them eventually dispersed.
Around 10:30 p.m., however, a group of perhaps 100 demonstrators began marching through the streets, eventually blocking an intersection next to a BP gas station that burned down the night before. They threw bottles, chunks of concrete and rocks at officers. Dozens of officers arrived and forced the group down the street.
Seven officers were injured and 14 people were arrested by the time it was over. An 18-year-old was shot near the intersection. Police had to use an armoured vehicle to rescue him. He was taken to a hospital, but Flynn said his life was not in danger.
Smith's death was just the latest in a string of shootings involving police and black men to spark demonstrations and protests.
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where 37-year-old Alton Sterling was fatally shot in July during a struggle with two white police officers, protests largely dissipated after three law enforcement officers were killed in a shooting attack that appeared to target police. Demonstrations also unfolded after 32-year-old Philando Castile was shot and killed in suburban St. Paul, Minnesota, during a traffic stop by a Latino police officer. Those protests dwindled in the ensuing weeks.
Last year, the state Justice Department agreed to review Milwaukee police procedures after a white officer shot Dontre Hamilton, a mentally ill black man, in a downtown park during a scuffle.
DeShawn Corprue, 31, who lives behind the burned-out BP station, said nothing that police released about Smith's death would have stopped the weekend's unrest.
"People are just so angry," he said.
Flynn blamed a Chicago chapter of the Revolutionary Communist Party for coming to town and inciting Sunday's violence.
"There is ample opportunity for second-guessing, I'm sure," Flynn said.
Police chief was surprised by violence after fatal shooting | World | News | Tor

Officials: Slain man in Milwaukee cop shooting had criminal record
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Monday, August 15, 2016 11:09 AM EDT | Updated: Monday, August 15, 2016 11:35 AM EDT
MILWAUKEE -- When police identified Sylville Smith as the Milwaukee man shot by an officer Saturday, triggering a violent uprising on the city's mostly black north side, Chief Edward Flynn cited Smith's "lengthy criminal record."
Online court records showed multiple charges against the 23-year-old Smith dating back to 2013. One was as minor as retail theft -- which was dismissed -- and other less serious offences included speeding, driving without insurance, driving with a suspended license or having open intoxicants in a vehicle.
There were more serious charges. Smith was accused in a shooting last year and charged with recklessly endangering safety, a felony.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Smith was subsequently accused of pressuring the victim to recant statements that identified him as the gunman and was charged with trying to intimidate a witness. The charges were dropped because the victim recanted the identification and failed to appear in court, Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern told the newspaper Sunday.
Smith also pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon in 2014.
Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke said at a news conference that Smith had been arrested 13 times.
"He's got a bunch of drug arrests here, robbery, use of force," Clarke said.
But Smith was father to a 2-year-old toddler, too, his mother said.
"My son is gone due to the police killing my son," a distraught Mildred Haynes told the Journal Sentinel on Sunday. "I am lost."
Smith's younger sister, Sherelle Smith, 22, told the Journal Sentinel that her brother carried a gun because he was scared and needed to protect himself, not because he was violent. She said he was known around the neighbourhood for his style and dance moves.
"He was a ladies' man. That's the worst thing about him," she said
"I'm not going to say he was an angel. He was out here living his life," Smith's godmother, Katherine Mahmoud, told the Journal Sentinel.
Mayor Tom Barrett called for empathy for Smith's family.
"I think we have to recognize that ... a young man lost his life yesterday afternoon," the mayor said. "And no matter what the circumstances are, his family has to be hurting."
Smith's death sparked explosive protests in northern Milwaukee, a town of 600,000 where roughly 40 per cent of residents are black. Several businesses were burned down in the protests that stretched into Sunday morning, leading Gov. Scott Walker to activate National Guard troops in case violence persists. The unrest continued on Sunday night with protesters throwing rocks and other objects at police and one person shot. But the there was no widespread destruction of property.
This undated photo provided by the Milwaukee County Sheriff shows Sylville K. Smith. Smith, whose killing by police touched off rioting in Milwaukee, was shot by a black officer after turning toward him with a gun in his hand, the police chief said Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016, as Wisconsin's governor put the National Guard on standby against any further violence on the city's mostly black north side. (Milwaukee County Sheriff via AP)

Officials: Slain man in Milwaukee cop shooting had criminal record | World | New
 
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Remington1

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Sad display of total ignorance. This is no longer a cause, it's a free for all. A cop in pursuit of a guy with a gun ends up shooting him, could it have been self defence? Am I missing something? Same as the shooting in Ottawa with the guy running around with a gun, and what is the response??? we pay for it here in Toronto!! our streets are taken over, and this is going to increase my respect for the cause, while the head of the protest is tweeting that she will need strength to not kill a few 'white' guys. She was yelling at the top of her lungs yesterday, what the f*^K.
 
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Autopsy: Man killed in Milwaukee was shot in chest, arm
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Friday, August 19, 2016 03:53 PM EDT | Updated: Friday, August 19, 2016 04:02 PM EDT
MILWAUKEE -- A black man whose death at the hands of police spurred two nights of violence in Milwaukee was shot once in the chest and once in the arm, the Milwaukee County medical examiner said Friday.
Sylville K. Smith, 23, died Saturday after what police said was a brief foot chase when he fled a traffic stop. A few hours after Smith's death, a protest on the city's largely black north side erupted into violence.
Police say body-camera video from the officer who shot Smith shows he was holding a handgun and had turned toward the officer, who is also black. Mayor Tom Barrett said just hours after the shooting that Smith had been hit twice, in the chest and arm.
Aside from confirming that account, a brief release from the medical examiner said little. It said an autopsy report and investigative reports would not be released since Smith's death is under investigation by the state.
The unrest in Milwaukee largely subsided Monday, leaving several businesses burned and assorted other damage that federal officials said could amount to several million dollars.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting, as required by state law for any fatal shootings involving police. The agency has declined to release the body-camera video or any other details while its investigation continues. State investigators on Thursday set up a tip line to gather information from the public.
Autopsy: Man killed in Milwaukee was shot in chest, arm | World | News | Toronto
 
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Ex-Milwaukee cops investigate fatal shooting
Gretchen Ehlke, The Associated Press
First posted: Monday, August 22, 2016 08:13 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, August 22, 2016 10:13 PM EDT
MILWAUKEE -- Wisconsin's attorney general acknowledged Monday that former Milwaukee police officers, now working for the state Department of Justice, are investigating the fatal shooting of a black man by a Milwaukee officer that triggered two nights of violence.
Attorney General Brad Schimel said he doesn't see a conflict in using former Milwaukee officers in the investigation into the Aug. 13 shooting of Sylville K. Smith.
Smith, 23, was killed after what Milwaukee police said was a brief foot chase when he ran from a traffic stop. A few hours after Smith's death, a protest on the city's largely black north side erupted into violence that reignited the following night in the Sherman Park neighbourhood.
"Milwaukee PD has about 2,000 sworn officers as I understand. The likelihood that there would be some relationship between a particular patrol officer, who's going to be much younger than an experienced detective... is small. And if there is any relationship at all, that officer, that investigator would not be permitted to have any role in the investigation," Schimel said at a news conference in downtown Milwaukee.
He said the DOJ hires many retired officers to work for the Division of Criminal Investigation in the region that they have previously worked. An agency spokesman later said DCI has about 100 officers statewide; of 18 field agents in the Milwaukee office, eight once worked for the Milwaukee Police Department.
State Rep. David Bowen, who grew up in the Sherman Park neighbourhood, questioned the use of former Milwaukee officers in the investigation and called for Schimel to turn the case over to the U.S. Department of Justice.
"People are crying out for transparency and crying out for accountability," said Bowen, who represents a large portion of the city's north side.
Schimel said his investigators have interviewed all "critical witnesses" at least once, but the investigation into the fatal shooting of Smith is not yet complete. His office has been working closely with Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, who ultimately will decide whether any charges are warranted against the officer who shot Smith, he said.
The attorney general said there are two videos from body cameras worn by two of the three officers who were at the scene of the shooting that show similar vantage points, but that no video or still shots from the video will be released until Chisholm is done with the case. There is no surveillance video from the neighbourhood, he said.
While the video is a component of the investigation, Schimel said it's just one piece among many sources of information.
"They give only a narrow and incomplete glimpse of the overall picture," he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin has pressed Schimel's office to release the body camera video. Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said the video clearly shows Smith was holding a handgun and turned toward the officer when he was shot.
The first 30 seconds of the video has no audio. That's because Milwaukee police body cameras are set up to continuously record a 30-second buffer of video only. When an officer double-clicks his camera, the device instantly stores the past 30 seconds of video and begins adding audio only at that instant.
Schimel said it happened quickly.
"It's not easy to see everything unless you slow it down" he said.
Smith's family has been co-operative in the investigation, Schimel said. The Wisconsin Department of Justice is investigating the shooting, as required by state law for any fatal shootings involving police.
On Monday, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett eased curfew restrictions he had imposed on Aug. 15, saying they were no longer needed.
Smith's funeral will be held Friday at Christian Faith Fellowship Church in Milwaukee.
Police move in on a group of protesters throwing rocks at them in Milwaukee, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2016. A black man whose death at the hands of police spurred two nights of violence in Milwaukee was shot once in the chest and once in the arm, the Milwaukee County medical examiner said Friday. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

Ex-Milwaukee cops investigate fatal shooting | World | News | Toronto Sun
 
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