The man whose fatal shooting by Milwaukee police triggered hours of violent protests on the city's predominantly black north side was a 23-year-old black man and father to a toddler, his mother and police said.
Speaking at a news conference, Milwaukee police Chief Ed Flynn identified Sylville Smith as the man shot by a police officer a day earlier after he fled a traffic stop.
Mayor Tom Barrett said it was clear from police body camera footage that Smith was holding a gun when he was shot several times.
"It was in his hand. He was raising up with it," Flynn said at the news conference.
A distraught Mildred Haynes earlier told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Smith, her son, was the man killed and said police had told her little about his death.
"My son is gone due to the police killing my son," she said today. "I am lost."
She said he had a 2-year-old son.
Smith was accused in a shooting last year and charged with recklessly endangering safety.
He was subsequently accused of pressuring the victim to recant statements that identified him as the gunman and was charged with trying to intimidate a witness, the newspaper reported.
It's unclear why both charges were dropped.
He also pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon in 2014. Smith was cited for driving without a license or insurance, speeding and driving with open intoxicants earlier this year.
Court records identify Smith as black.
Flynn said Smith had a "lengthy arrest record."
After watching the officer's body camera footage, Flynn said the entire incident took about 25 seconds, from the start of the traffic stop until shots were fired.
He said Smith ran "a few dozen feet" after being stopped, and turned toward the officer while holding the gun. He said it was unclear how many rounds the officer fired in response.
Flynn said he didn't know what prompted the traffic stop, but described Smith's car as "behaving suspiciously" and suggested it was a rental car that may have been stolen.
Barrett called for empathy for Smith's family.
"I think we have to recognise that ... a young man lost his life yesterday afternoon," the Mayor said. "And no matter what the circumstances are, his family has to be hurting."
Smith's death sparked explosive protests in northern Milwaukee, a town of 600,000 where roughly 40 per cent of residents are black. At least four businesses were burned down, leading Governor Scott Walker to activate National Guard troops in case violence persists.
-AP
