Milwaukee police reported on Sunday that the armed man an officer killed after a traffic stop on the weekend was black.

The city is trying to recover its calm after a night of disturbances on the weekend that have made it a new focus of tension as a result of police violence.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Sunday ordered the National Guard deployed in Milwaukee to prevent a repeat of the protests that erupted on Saturday night after the shooting and during which angry demonstrators clashed wit hpolice and burned a gasoline station and several other businesses.

The situation unfolded on Saturday afternoon, when two police officers stopped two people in an automobile for “suspicious activity,” according to a statement by the city’s police department.

The two occupants of the vehicle tried to flee on foot and police said the officers ordered one of them to drop the pistol he was seen to be holding, but he did not do so, whereupon at least one of the officers shot him twice, killing him.

The dead man was identified by his family as Sylville Smith, and his identity was later confirmed by police, who added that he had a “lengthy arrest record.”

Police said that the officer who killed Smith was also black, but they did not identify him, saying only that he was wearing a body camera that may have recorded the incident and he had been placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated.

The official police report said that Smith, 23, was holding a semiautomatic pistol loaded with 23 bullets when he was killed. It was not clear whether he had pointed the gun at the officers.

After the incident, about 200 people took to the streets in the relatively poor and mainly black Milwaukee neighborhood of Sherman Park to protest the killing and confronted police, injuring one officer in the head when bricks were hurled at his patrol car.

Local media reported that firefighters were unable to approach the area where demonstrators had set fire to a gasoline station since gunshots were being heard in the vicinity at that time.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said that police arrested three people and issued a call to local families to get their children to return home if they were participating in the protests.

Barrett also warned that the city would use all available means to restore order, although the number of policedeployed in the area was reduced later on Sunday.

Meanwhile, on Sunday dozens of volunteers removed the debris left by the disturbance from local streets, while a tentative calm returned to the area.

The White House said in a statement that President Barack Obama was being kept informed of developments and that he had spoken with the Milwaukee mayor to offer the administration’s support to local authorities. EFE

Washington, Aug 14 (EFE)