MILWAUKEE—City leaders blamed outside agitators Monday after a second straight night of violence wracked Milwaukee’s mostly black north side in protest at the fatal shooting of a black man by police.
An 18-year-old man was shot and wounded during Sunday night’s unrest, which was milder and far less destructive than Saturday night’s confrontation but still left the city tense. Mayor Tom Barrett singled out groups of young people on the streets of the Sherman Park neighborhood who he said were intent on causing trouble.
“Those individuals, in my mind, are deliberately trying to damage a great neighborhood in a great city,” Barrett said at a news conference Monday.
Barrett warned parents and guardians that police will be strictly enforcing the city’s 10 p.m. curfew for teenagers.
“This is not the place where you go to gawk, this is not the place where you go to take pictures,” he said. “This is not the place where you go to drive your car around.”
The problems began Saturday afternoon after a black police officer shot and killed a black man after a traffic stop. Police say 23-year-old Sylville K. Smith was fleeing and had a stolen handgun when he was shot; they say bodycam footage clearly shows him holding the weapon.
