Cautious optimism amid curfew

Shaken by two nights of violent unrest in the Sherman Park neighborhood, Milwaukee authorities imposed a 10 p.m. citywide curfew for teens Monday while faith leaders took to the streets to pray and talk with residents.

The combination of law, order and faith was an attempt to break a cycle of violence that erupted following Saturday’s shooting death of an armed suspect by a Milwaukee police officer.

Although it was too early to declare if the peace would fully hold, at 10:30 p.m. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and Milwaukee Police Chief Edward A. Flynn appeared at a news conference and expressed cautious optimism.

“We think we are in, comparatively speaking, a positive place,” Flynn said, adding that a half-dozen people had been arrested earlier in the evening.

Barrett said the “signs have been very encouraging.”

“It appears at this hour that a lot of parents and guardians have taken very, very seriously the curfew that has gone into effect tonight,” Barrett said.

Earlier Monday afternoon, Police District 7 station was closed briefly because of threats, Flynn said, including shots fired nearby. Police were unsure whether the shots were fired at the station or near the station. At 8 p.m., the station was back open for business.

Milwaukee officials announced that Sherman Park would be closed at night and that teens 17 and younger throughout the city are subject to a 10 p.m. curfew.

Sherman Park, 3000 N. Sherman Blvd., was shut from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m., as sheriff's deputies erected temporary fencing on the park’s perimeter The nighttime closure, ordered by Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr., will continue until further notice.

“I’m calling on every resident of this great city,” Barrett said. “Do not do further damage to this great neighborhood.”

It appeared that many were heeding the mayor’s call, with the night punctuated by a gathering organized by pastors from the nearby Parklawn Assembly of God Church and other congregations. They assembled in a small green space near the BP station that was burned out in Saturday night's uprising.

“I'm very conflicted in my emotions from anger to hurt to empathy to sadness,” said Jamila Riley, one of the participants.

“While I don’t necessarily agree with what’s taking place, I understand it,” Riley said.

Marie Bowen, who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years, said it was the first time she had endured such unrest.

“It’s always been peaceful,” she said. “Now and again, you have little things but not anything like this.”

“What is happening is very painful,” she added. “I’m trying to understand people where they are coming from and what is taking place in their lives.”

Jean Gillon, who lives near the intersection of Center St. and Sherman Blvd., said the violence has disrupted the neighborhood.

“I don’t think that’s a positive or good way to get your point across,” Gillon said. “The fact that the rioters were saying ‘black lives matter’ and ‘black power’ in the name of (the violence) — I don’t agree with that.”

Jacob Schabel, who lives near Washington High School, said he felt drawn to Monday night’s prayer vigil to help his neighbors.

“Lots of people want to reach out and be supportive, to unify our neighborhoods from situations like these and to learn from them,” he said.

RELATED: Sherman Park unrest decades in the making

RELATED: Causey: Neighborhood caught in downward spiral

RELATED:  Police officer who fatally shot suspect is black 

RELATED: Man shot by Milwaukee police subject of witness intimidation case

RELATED:  Four officers injured during unrest 

Ald. Khalif J. Rainey, who represents the Sherman Park neighborhood, issued a statement, saying:“I need to be perfectly clear about these two things. While the residents of Sherman Park and Milwaukee’s impoverished neighborhoods have just cause for anger and frustration, absolutely nothing justifies the display of violence and incivility we’ve witnessed in our neighborhood these past two evenings.”

He called it “foolish” to destroy businesses in a neighborhood where employment opportunities are so few.

“You can’t fix the roof of a burning house,” he said.

“We need to put down the bricks and put away the guns. We need to pick up some brooms and paint brushes and get to work.”

Gov. Scott Walker traveled to Milwaukee on Monday to meet with 123 Wisconsin National Guard members who were sent to the city at the request of Clarke but have not been deployed to city streets. He also greeted Milwaukee officers at Police District 3 not far from Sherman Park.

Walker said the vast majority of Sherman Park residents are good, law-abiding people who want the best for their neighborhood.

“If you want to address poverty, if you want to address living conditions, if you want to address housing — all those things are legitimate issues people have frustrations about. But if you’ve got neighborhoods where businesses are burned down, where people are afraid to live and work, it’s only going to make those problems more difficult,” Walker said.

Walker also said 26 more Wisconsin State Patrol troopers were shifted to Milwaukee County to allow sheriff’s deputies who normally patrol highways to be on call in the Sherman Park area.

On Sunday night, seven police officers and four sheriff’s deputies were injured as demonstrators, spurred by a police shooting of an armed suspect Saturday night, threw rocks, bricks and bottles. An 18-year-old man was hit by what police believe to have been random gunfire.

Fourteen arrests were made, all for disorderly conduct, police said. Three squad cars were damaged, the windows of a store were broken, a car and numerous Dumpsters were set on fire.

Flynn commended officers for not firing a shot on Sunday night, despite more than 30 ShotSpotter activations.

“They successfully protected the community last night,” Flynn said at a news conference earlier Monday, during which he reiterated his belief, based on body camera video evidence, that 23-year-old Sylville K. Smith was armed when he was shot to death by a 24-year-old police officer in a confrontation Saturday afternoon.

It will be the Wisconsin Department of Justice that decides when and how that video evidence is released to the public.

The agency’s Division of Criminal Investigation is conducting an independent review of the shooting, which is required under state law whenever someone is killed by police or dies in official custody.

The department, headed by Attorney General Brad Schimel, doesn’t release the videos of a shooting or death until the investigation is complete and the district attorney decides whether to issue charges in a death. Copies of the video are then given to the media along with all the other evidence collected, such as witness interviews, 911 tapes and photographs from the scene.

Schimel and his agency have been under pressure to move up the release of the video in this case. But spokesman Johnny Koremonos said that wouldn’t be possible Monday.

“In recognition of the violence that has affected Milwaukee residents for the last 48 hours, DOJ is working expeditiously, and within the parameters of the law, to provide the community a transparent view of the events that took place on Aug. 13 in a timely manner. However, we are not prepared to release any of the video evidence at this time,” Koremonos said.

Barrett urged the state to release the body camera footage.

“This is a flashpoint,” he said.

Bill Glauber, Meg Jones, Crocker Stephenson, Jason Stein and Maggie Angst of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.