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WATCH: Mob Torches Home, Throws Bricks At Officers During Search For Missing Teens: ‘Y’all Are Terrorists’
by Amanda Prestigiacomo, Daily Wire:
Sparked by a mix of anti-police sentiment, “vigilantism,” and apparent misinformation via social media, chaos erupted in Milwaukee on Tuesday during the search for missing teen girls.
According to local news reports and video footage, in the process of the urgent search, officers and other first responders had bricks thrown at them, three people were injured in a related shooting, and a house was burned to the ground.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday that the crowd outside the home that was later burned to the ground included “a mix of neighbors observing the situation, people expressing frustration with police and activists who’d marched in Milwaukee’s racial justice protests.”
“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,” the report outlined. “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.”
The missing teens, aged 13 and 15, were reportedly located on Wednesday.
Rumors of sex trafficking have not been confirmed by authorities, though police spokeswoman Sgt. Sheronda Grant said it is “something that we are looking into.”
“So that’s under review,” she said. “However, I cannot confirm that that is the case.”
According to ABC News-affiliate 12 WISN, the home that was burned to the ground was not where the girls were found.
As people broke into the home and set it ablaze, “police say people in the crowd fired shots and hit three people,” 12 WISN reported Wednesday. “Officers also say people in the crowd started throwing bricks and pieces of concrete at police. … Police also say both missing teenagers have been found and they were not at that home.”
The report noted that a man named Pat Bills said his grandmother lived in the home that was torched. Bills excoriated the protesters for suggesting they were “empowered,” stating they are “terrorizing,” not “empowering.”
“She’s a loving lady,” he said of his grandmother. “She had three strokes. She’s fighting for the last little life she got left. I’m surprised this here didn’t set her off.”
