Governor activates National Guard in Milwaukee

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After consulting with Gov. Scott Walker and Major General Donald Dunbar, Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. has requested the mobilization of the National Guard after riots broke out in Milwaukee over an officer-involved shooting.

Protesters fired gunshots, hurled bricks and set a petrol station on fire in Milwaukee on Saturday night, hours after a patrol officer shot and killed an armed suspect who fled after a traffic stop, authorities said.

Barrett said the Guard would not be deployed unless police requested it.

The dead man was identified by his mother as Sylville Smith, 23. Police said the man was armed, but it wasn’t clear whether he was pointing the gun or aiming it at officers.

In December, the US Justice Department said it would carry a full review of Milwaukee’s police department, at its request, to look into areas for improvement. Online court records showed a range of charges against Smith, many of them misdemeanors.

On Sunday morning, residents, clergy members and activists gathered to hold prayer circles where fires had burned the night before and to clean up the streets.

Flynn said one 16-year-old female had been shot – possibly by a stray bullet – and suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

Darlene Rose, who is 31, says she understands the anger that sparked the protests but that violence won’t solve anything. “I am going to utilize all available resources to accomplish that”, Clarke said of calling in the National Guard, according to WISN.

Three protesters were arrested in the violence. Five officers were slain by a sniper in Dallas in July as they provided security at an otherwise peaceful protest of police killings.

Both Smith and the police officer who shot him are black, Milwaukee police said during a Sunday press conference.

“Now this is a warning cry”, he added. “Where do we go as a community from here?” he asked. Almost 40 percent of Milwaukee’s 600,000 residents are black, and heavily concentrated on the north side. As a result of Saturday night’s clashes, one police officer was injured and three rioters arrested, according to police.

The shooting was being investigated by the state. The officer then proceeded to shoot the suspect twice – once in the arm and once the chest – Barrett said.

Mayor Tom Barrett says a still image pulled from the officer’s body camera shows “without question” that Smith had a gun in his hand when he was shot.

The 24-year-old officer was put on desk duty.

Mildred Haynes, Smith’s mother, told the local newspaper the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Smith was the father of a 2-year-old boy.