Police said one person was shot at a Milwaukee protest on Sunday evening and officers used an armored vehicle to retrieve the injured victim during a second night of unrest over the police shooting of a black man, but there was no repeat of widespread destruction of property.
About two dozen officers in riot gear confronted a group who were throwing rocks and other objects at police near where the black man was fatally shot a day earlier. Police moved in to try to disperse the crowd and warned of arrests. Police took the injured person to a hospital in an armored vehicle.
Local television showed police forming a line and using shields to deflect the objects. One police officer fell to the ground after apparently being hit by one of the objects and was moved away by fellow officers.
Photo: AP
Police also said an injured officer was taken to hospital after a rock broke the windshield of a squad car.
Earlier, video taken from a media helicopter showed a small group of protesters running through the streets, picking up orange construction barriers and hurling them out of the way.
Police posted on Twitter three locations where they said shots were fired.
There were no other reports of injuries and no major destruction of property after six businesses were burned in the unrest on Saturday.
Police Chief Edward Flynn said at a press conference on Sunday that the man whose death touched off Saturday night’s rioting was shot after he turned toward an officer with a gun in his hand.
Flynn said 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, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said a still image pulled from the footage clearly showed a gun in 23-year-old Sylville Smith’s hand as he fled a traffic stop on Saturday.
“I want our community to know that,” Barrett said.
However, 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,” he said.
Flynn declined to identify the officer who shot Smith, but said he is black.
The police chief said he was not 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.
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