What started Tuesday as a missing-persons investigation morphed over the course of several hours as tensions about police treatment ran high and rumors spread online.
By nightfall, three people — including two 14-year-olds — had been shot, a house was set on fire, and police had fired tear gas and pepper spray on some members of a scattered crowd of hundreds who'd gathered outside a Milwaukee house where police earlier conducted an investigation into two missing teenage girls.
Police spokeswoman Sgt. Sheronda Grant said the two had not been found as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, though TV stations reported earlier that family members of the girls — ages 13 and 15, last seen Sunday — said they'd been found safe during the afternoon.
Milwaukee police also said they were investigating a report of shots fired at the same house — in the 2100 block of North 40th Street — around 11:15 a.m. No injuries were reported, and Grant said police are looking into how the report of the missing girls is related to the shots fired.
Police are also investigating whether the girls may have been victims of sex trafficking, Grant said.
"That's something that we are looking into," she said. "So that's under review. However I cannot confirm that that is the case."
At any time Tuesday, the gathered crowd was a mix of neighbors observing the situation, people expressing frustration with police and activists who'd marched in Milwaukee's racial justice protests.
Some wanted to take the investigation into their own hands. Others joined the melee to express their grievances with police violence in general.
Police reported a boy and a girl, both 14, were shot near the scene around 5:45 p.m. and suffered injuries that were not life-threatening.
Then a 24-year-old man was shot near the scene around 7:30 p.m. as someone fired shots at his vehicle, police said. He refused medical treatment and his injuries were not life-threatening.
How the chaos unfolded
Fueled by rumors spread on social media, a crowd grew near the home late Tuesday morning. Police officers stood outside the house as investigators worked inside, and some people were shouting at the officers, according to livestreams from the scene.
By mid-afternoon, the crowd had swelled to hundreds of onlookers. About 15 to 20 officers formed a line outside the house to keep the crowd back but left after investigators completed their work.
The crowd then surged toward the house, as some in the group wanted to look for evidence that supported the rumors of sex trafficking. Some broke into the house, while others smashed the windows of a vehicle parked on the property.
Local protest organizer Frank Sensabaugh — also known as Frank Nitty — talked to many of the angriest participants to defuse tension.
Police wearing face shields and holding batons arrived and formed lines outside the house and on nearby streets.
Groups of people also began an effort to look for the girls in nearby residences.
Around 5:45 p.m. a fire broke out at one of the houses. Fire crews were on the scene to extinguish the fire.
As crews were fighting the fire, police fired tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray at some protesters, according to Sensabaugh’s livestream. Several people appeared to be injured, and volunteer medics were treating them — pouring milk on eyes and wrapping limbs.
After 7 p.m., Sensabaugh and a small group of others began a protest march away from the scene. A caravan of cars followed.
Grant said the department wanted people to disperse but respected residents who protest peacefully.
The two girls are not considered critical missing and do not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert, Grant said.
Contact Sophie Carson at (414) 223-5512 or scarson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @SCarson_News.
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June 24, 2020 at 11:21AM
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3 shot, house set on fire at scene of investigation into missing Milwaukee girls - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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