MILWAUKEE _ The Milwaukee police officer who shot an armed suspect to death Saturday is black, Chief Edward Flynn confirmed Sunday.
"We are concerned for his safety, he has been staying with relatives out of town," Flynn said.
Flynn said, based on his review of body camera video, that the chain of events leading to the shooting of Sylville Smith took 20 to 25 seconds.
"I mean, there was virtually no time between the officer unhooking his seat belt, turning on his body camera, getting out of the car and immediately he was in a foot chase. That foot chase went maybe a few dozen feet before he encountered this individual in a fenced yard," Flynn said.
"The individual was armed. The individual did turn toward the officer with the firearm in his hand. You can't tell when the officer discharges his firearm."
Flynn said he doesn't know how soon the body camera video would be released, but he and Mayor Tom Barrett said they hoped it would be soon, though the decision would be up to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
"It's a delicate balance between what the community needs to know... and the criminal justice process," the chief said.
Flynn said Smith was wounded in the chest and arm, but he didn't know how many times he was shot or how many shots the officer fired. He said that based on the video, the officer faced a credible threat. He said Smith did not comply with an officer's command to drop his gun. There is no indication that Smith fired a shot.
"It was in his hand. He was raising up with it," Flynn said.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker activated the National Guard to help the Milwaukee Police Department control further protests of the shooting.
Protesters turned violent and fired gunshots in Milwaukee's Sherman Park neighborhood on Saturday night.
On Sunday, a sense of calm and order returned to the neighborhood Sunday morning after a night when businesses were torched, cars overturned and set ablaze, and gunfire erupted.
By midmorning Sunday, the area was clogged with onlookers, in cars and on foot, but the area soon swelled with people who arrived to clean up trash from the unrest the night before.
Shortly after 7 a.m., people were showing up at the scene to pitch in on the clean-up. Some even crossed the police tape into the gas station, which was not being guarded by police, and started picking up trash. Officers ushered them out and the cleanup continued near the station and in the surrounding blocks.
"This may look like a graveyard, but dozens of faith & community leaders are out cleaning up. This is our Milwaukee!" Pastor Alexis Twito said on Twitter. Twito is the head coordinator for the Salvation Army's chaplaincy program that responds to traumatic events across the city.
Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton said organizations that work in the Sherman Park neighborhood have begun outreach in the community, and that city officials, including the mayor, police and community leaders, are scheduled to meet at noon Sunday.
"What we want is to make sure now that this does not spread to other parts of the city," Hamilton said Sunday morning. "And we'll be sharing information with the community so they are aware of what's going on and understand that things will be moving forward."
Alderman Khalif Rainey, who represents the neighborhood where the incident occurred, had suggested that failure to deal with the frustrations of Milwaukee's black residents _ poverty, jobless, lack of opportunity _ could lead to unrest elsewhere in the city, including downtown where hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in redevelopment.
"We need to continue to address the issues that people are frustrated by," Hamilton said. "People want to feel like they're getting a fair shake."
Others, interviewed in person at the park, also pointed to gun violence roiling the city. Five men were killed in three separate shootings that occurred Friday evening and into early Saturday.
"We cannot blame the police for what is happening," said the Rev. Jeffery Hawkins of Westside Missionary Baptist Church.
"I can understand we get upset when police kill one of ours but who is getting upset when we kill ourselves? That's where our anger should be."
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(This story was reported by John Diedrich, Ashley Luthern, Raquel Rutledge, Maggie Angst, Annysa Johnson and Tom Kertscher.)
