Milwaukee officials plead for calm after unrest wracks city
MILWAUKEE (AP) — City leaders pleaded for calm after violence erupted for several hours Saturday night on Milwaukee's north side following a man's fatal shooting by police earlier in the day, with the mayor 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, Mayor Tom 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.
The unrest began several hours after a man fleeing police after a traffic stop was shot and killed.
At least three people were arrested in an uprising that Barrett said was driven by social media messages instructing people to congregate in the area.
Officers got in their cars to leave at one point and some in the crowd started smashing a squad car's windows.
The businesses that burned included a BMO Harris branch, a BP gas station, an O'Reilly Auto Parts store and a beauty supply store.