Local official appears to condone the violent response to shooting of armed suspect: “This is the warning cry”

Chaos, violence, and looting erupted in Milwaukee late Saturday night following the shooting of an armed suspect by police.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

A standoff between police and an angry crowd turned violent Saturday night in the hours after a Milwaukee police officer shot and killed an armed suspect during a foot chase on the city’s north side. After an hours-long confrontation with officers, police reported at 10:15 p.m. that a gas station at N. Sherman Blvd. and W. Burleigh St. was set on fire. Police said firefighters could not for a time get close to the blaze because of gunshots. Later, fires were started at businesses — including a BMO Harris Bank branch, a beauty supply company and O’Reilly Auto Parts stores — near N. 35th and W. Burleigh streets.

Watch as the violence unfolds:

Little is yet known about the armed suspect who was killed by police.

CBS has some details:

Police said the 23-year-old man was armed with a handgun. Mayor Tom Barrett said the officer ordered the suspect to drop the weapon, but he refused. The officer then shot the suspect twice, Barrett said, adding that the officer was wearing a body camera. 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. . . . . 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 gun held 23 rounds of ammunition, Barrett said. 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.

With few details known about the shooting either before the riots started or now, Mayor Tom Barrett has promised a “full and open investigation” into the shooting.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel continues:

The mayor said some involved in the disturbances took to social media early in the evening to encourage others to come out and participate in trouble-making. He said many of them were young people, and he urged parents to keep tight reins on their children to avoid a repeat of Saturday night. “Our police officers are doing everything they can to restore order,” he said. But he said everyone needed to help restore calm. “If you love your son, if you love your daughter, text them, call them, pull them by their ears, get them home.” The mayor said police had “shown an amazing amount of restraint” Saturday evening. Hamilton said, “Our city is in turmoil tonight.” He promised a full and open investigation into the the police-involved shooting. “When we get information, we are going to share it with the public, please allow the process to work,” he said.

Watch local live coverage from last night:

A Milwaukee alderman, Khalif Rainey, has called the riots a “warning cry” from black people who “are tired of living under oppression.”

CNBC reports:

The outrage over police violence has given rise to the Black Lives Matter movement and touched off a national debate over the race and policing in the United States. “This is a warning cry,” Milwaukee Alderman Khalif Rainey said. “Black people of Milwaukee are tired. They are tired of living under this oppression.”

BizPacReview has more:

Riots broke out in the city after police shot and killed a 23-year-old black suspect with a long criminal history, who was armed with a stolen handgun loaded with 23 rounds of ammunition, Reuters reported. But facts didn’t matter to the degenerates who seized the opportunity to use the shooting as an excuse to riot, loot, shoot and burn local businesses while they chanted “black power.” And while city leaders called a press conference to ask for calm, Alderman Khalif Rainey made plenty of excuses, stopping short of outright condoning the violence. The alderman said Milwaukee is “the absolute worst place in America for African-Americans to live in the entire country.” He said black people are “tired of living under this oppression” and while he said he didn’t justify the violence itself, “nobody can deny that there are racial problems here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that have to be rectified.” Rainey even seemed to threaten more violence. “This is the warning cry,” he said of the rioters burning their community to the ground and shooting at firefighters who tried to put out a gas station fire. “Where do we go from here?” he asked. “Where do we go as a community from here? Do we continue with the inequity, the injustice, the unemployment, the under-education that creates these byproducts that we see this evening? Do we continue that?” He demanded that the black people’s grievances be rectified immediately.

Watch:

Milwaukee officials have called for calm.

Fox News reports:

City leaders pleaded for calm after the violence erupted, with Mayor Tom Barrett imploring parents of anyone at the scene to “get them home right now” after at least four businesses burned and one officer was hurt. At a news conference just after midnight, Barrett said the situation appeared to be calming after a riotous scene in which as many as 100 protesters skirmished with police, torching a squad car and tossing a brick through the window of another. Police mounted at least two efforts to push the protesters out of an intersection at the heart of the violence.

There is much speculation that the Black Lives Matter movement is at the root of this unrest.

Fox News continues:

Other leaders blamed the Black Lives Matter movement for igniting the violence. Black Lives Matter has “stoked hysteria,” Bishop E.W. Jackson told “Fox & Friends” Sunday. “A mass hysteria has taken grip” and President Obama has made it worse by embracing the BLM movement, Jackson said. He added: The BLM movement works on the false premise “police are out hunting down black men.” They are “using race as a way of avoiding responsibility,” Jackson said.

UPDATES from Twitter:

VIDEO: Rioters chanting "black power" as gas station burns in #milwaukee pic.twitter.com/wQJ45WOocm — Tim Pool (@Timcast) August 14, 2016

h/t PJ Media

"Dad, what did you do when you thought there was an injustice" "I broke into a small business and stole fake hair" pic.twitter.com/sbvkU1RKvR — Cameron Gray (@Cameron_Gray) August 14, 2016

Pretty sure #Milwaukee is one of those cities run by @TheDemocrats for decades… ???????????? https://t.co/59IPcuVVcA — The Patriot Veteran (@BenWilhelm1230) August 14, 2016

If you're more outraged by poor people in #Milwaukee burning property than rich people on Wall Street robbing you daily, you are delusional. — Lex Looper (@lex_looper) August 14, 2016

#Milwaukee #BLM Violent racist black privilege in action! "They beating up all the white people""They white, get em" pic.twitter.com/iKtGYuk1rt — Teagan✞ (@velvethammer) August 14, 2016

Gov. Walker activates Wisconsin National Guard in wake of officer-involved shooting, subsequent violence https://t.co/kRnbFuDvIO — Fuzzy Slippers (@fuzislippers) August 14, 2016

We will keep you updated as we learn more.



