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The city of Milwaukee, Wisc. was beset by protests Saturday night (Aug. 13) after a police-involved shooting led the killing of one armed man according to reports by the authorities and the arrest of a second suspect. The 23-year-old man who was killed fled the scene of a traffic stop by Saturday afternoon and was shot by a 24-year-old city officer.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports:

City police officials said two officers stopped two suspects in a car about 3:30 p.m. The suspects then took off on foot. During the pursuit, a six-year veteran of the department shot and killed a 23-year-old Milwaukee resident, who was carrying a semiautomatic handgun, police said.

The officer was not hurt.

During his midnight news conference, Barrett said the officer pursuing the 23-year-old man ordered him to drop his gun. The man didn’t and the officer fired several times, the mayor said.

The man was hit twice, once in the chest and once in the arm. He said police determined there were 23 rounds in the man’s gun.

Barrett said the officer was wearing a body camera and his understanding was that the camera was operational during the incident.

According to several reports, including from the Associated Press, the race of the slain man has not been released but whispers on social media say that he was Black. Milwaukee’s Black demographic has become the dominant segment in the past few decades and there has been chatter that tensions between those citizens and police have been high for some time.

Officials are calling for an end to the unrest and there is a massive cleanup effort underway. A gas station was burned to the ground and several other buildings were torched. In the standoff between the mostly -Black protesters and police, an officer’s vehicle was also damaged.

Three protestors were arrested and one officer was injured by a brick. On social media, many are calling for continued protests in the city and city officials are urging parents to keep their children at home.

Below, we’ve captured a bit of discussion around the city’s unrest that’s taking place on Twitter. Follow the conversation by clicking the #Milwaukee hashtag.

Photo: screen cap

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