More than 120 National Guard members were on standby as a curfew neared after two nights of protests over the police killing of a Milwaukee man.
Milwaukee authorities, with over 100 National Guard members on hand as backup, waited warily as a 10 p.m. curfew for teenagers approached Monday night after two straight nights of violent street protests over the fatal police shooting of a local man.
"After 10 o'clock, your teenagers better be home or in a place where they're off the streets," Mayor Tom Barrett warned earlier in the day.
Barrett made the announcement as tensions remained high in the Sherman Park neighborhood, with police out in force.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said 123 National Guard members were in town "as a precaution" to assist local authorities if needed.
Walker sought to tamp down tension in the city as the curfew approached, told Milwaukeeans at a late-afternoon news conference that the troops are "not out on the streets ... but rather here as a resource."
Walker, a Republican who mounted a failed campaign this year for president, reassured residents that he knew "there are larger issues than what happened this weekend to address" in Milwaukee, which is one of the most segregated cities in America, according to a report late last year by the nonprofit Brookings Institution.
"It's probably an array of different issues that got us where we were Saturday night and Sunday morning," Walker said. But saying law and order "isn't a Republican or Democrat issue," he declared: "Until we have public safety, everything else is kind of a side [issue].
"My hope is that tonight will be a peaceful night and that people will get their neighborhood back," he said.
Officials have been trying to calm tensions since Saturday night, when protests erupted after the fatal police shooting of Sylville Smith, a 23-year-old black man, earlier that afternoon.
Police said Smith was armed with a loaded handgun and was fleeing a traffic stop on foot when he was killed by a police officer who so far has only been identified as being 24-year-old and African-American.
The next night, more than 100 people holding candles and paper signs reading "BlackLivesMatter" gathered at Sherman Park and then marched to the site of the shooting.
When police moved in and threatened arrests if the crowd didn't disperse, some responded by bombarding the cops with rocks, concrete and debris. An injured officer was taken to a hospital after a rock broke the windshield of his squad car, police said.
An 18-year-old man was wounded Sunday by gunfire and 11 law enforcement officers were injured as protesters pelted them with rocks and bricks, authorities said. Eleven men and three women were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said.
Residents of the stricken neighborhood said Monday that they're frustrated by the demonstrations, which they said threatened to damage the area.
"That was way over the top, and it threatens the integrity of our neighborhood," Bob Olin, who has lived in the area since the 1980s, told NBC station WTMJ.
"This is a very community-based neighborhood," Olin said. "People know who their neighbors are. They interact with them regularly."
Kristine Surek, another longtime Sherman Park resident, told the station: "I think it's unfair that, nationally, we're getting a bad reputation. I have friends out of the city who are calling me and saying, 'Get out of that neighborhood.'"
Smith's death comes amid nationwide tensions over police use of force — which has spurred protests but also deadly violence against officers.
At a candlelight vigil Sunday night, Smith's sister, Kimberly Neal, 24, said the family wanted prosecutors to charge the officer who shot him.
"He wasn't a threat, period," Neal told WTMJ. "He wasn't a threat when they took his life. He wasn't a threat."
But Flynn, the police chief, said body camera video that investigators have seen shows that there was a "credible threat" to the officer.
At one point, Smith, who had a "lengthy" arrest record, turned toward the officer with the gun in his hand, Flynn said. Authorities said Smith's gun held 23 rounds.
The video hasn't been released to the public.
While the state is investigating the shooting, the officer who fired the fatal shots has been placed on administrative duty pending an investigation. He has also left town following threats against him and other police officers, Flynn said.
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