A night of protests in Wauwatosa following Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm’s decision not to charge Police Officer Joseph Mensah in the shooting death of 17-year old Alvin Cole. Many of the more than 100 marchers remained peaceful, but some broke windows in homes and businesses along North Avenue.
“I’m not happy with the damage,” Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride tells WTMJ. “I’m not happy with the looting. The looting occurred in the city of Milwaukee, but that doesn’t make me any happier. The protests were relatively peaceful up until people got past 76thStreet, then some windows were smashed. I fail to see how that can be called a peaceful protest.”
The fatal shooting of Cole took place near Mayfair Mall in February.
McBride says the city has been preparing for protests since mid-July. Those preparations included putting a curfew in place, having National Guard in place, as well as police presence from across the state.
“We were not Kenosha last night,” adds McBride. “We did not have burning. We did not have people getting hurt. The smashed windows were obviously unacceptable, but windows can be replaced. Lives cannot be replaced. Buildings that are burnt to the ground cannot be replaced. So I won’t call it a total victory, but I will say that it proved that our measures that we put into place in advance were appropriate measures and we’re going to continue doing that every night.”
The Mayor’s message to the community- “Stay strong.”
“The police and the Guardsmen will be in place for as long as their needed. And we will make sure that no one gets hurt. And to the extent possible, we will keep even what happened last night from happening again.”