Mourners celebrate life of Sylville Smith
Hundreds of mourners gathered Friday at Christian Faith Fellowship Church to honor the life of Sylville Smith, 23, the man fatally shot by a Milwaukee police officer in the Sherman Park neighborhood.
Some buckled over, collapsing in tears as others tried to comfort them. Many wore shirts honoring Smith with slogans like “Fallen stars still shine” and “My boy gone but will never be forgotten.”
Sheila Thompson wiped tears from her eyes outside the church, 8605 W Good Hope Road.
Wearing a button that read, “Change for Sylville Smith!” Thompson described him as a “good person” who went to school.
“Just stop the violence,” she said. “This is crazy. Put the guns down.”
Mourners, many of them dressed in red, filed into the church under a neon sign that read, “Sinners are welcome here.”
They stood in a long line that looped around the church’s sanctuary, most pausing only briefly before Smith’s open red casket.
Smith’s death Aug. 13 touched off two nights of violent unrest in the Sherman Park neighborhood, which many observers said had its roots in decades of systematic problems including segregation and poverty.
Carnetta Spruell described her nephew as a much-loved young man.
“He was a wonderful child. He was a wonderful man,” she said. “He didn't deserve this.”
“He was a very loved child, grown man,” she said.
She said her other nephew was killed the same day as Smith, adding that she had just come from his funeral.
“This is my first time I’ve ever been to two funerals in one day,” she said.
She blamed social media for the unrest, calling it “really scandalous,” adding that her family has been pushing for a peaceful response.
She said the family was struggling to cope by “the grace of God.”
“That’s all we can do right now,” she said.
Smith’s family made clear to those who attended the service that the point of the gathering was not political, but rather to say goodbye to their loved one.
“We need to understand, this is a funeral,” said one of the speakers, Muhibb Dyer, of the I Will Not Die Young Campaign.
“It’s not an opportunity to forward our agenda,” he said. “This is a funeral. They lost their baby boy.”
But the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who delivered the eulogy, could not help but use the moment to call for peace and social justice.
“Another funeral, another community with too many living in fear. Trapped in poverty. Dying in pain. Reduced to a statistic,” he said. He asked the congregation to repeat after him:
“Sylville. Will live. As long. As we remember him.”
“Police work in fear. Sitting on top of all pain, our people live in fear, living in ashes and abandonment. The police and the people. The jailed and the jailer, both are equally trapped. Neither can be free until both are free. So we have survived apart. Now we must learn to live together.”
Jackson ended the funeral with a call for mourners to approach the altar and dedicate, or rededicate, their lives to God. Dozens did so.
Video still unreleased
According to preliminary information provided by city officials, Smith was shot when he ran from a traffic stop about 3:30 p.m. Aug. 13. Police Chief Edward Flynn has said body camera footage shows Smith was armed and turning toward Officer Dominique Heaggan, who then opened fire.
That footage has not been released publicly, which has caused frustration and mounting speculation among some residents and activists. Following the funeral service, Smith family attorneys, Loevy & Loevy, again called for the release of the video.
Lawmakers ask U.S. to review Sylville Smith's death
COMPLETE COVERAGE: Milwaukee Sherman Park turmoil
“The family doesn’t know what happened, or why it happened, or how it happened,” David B. Owens, an attorney from the firm said.
“Imagine all that stuff bearing on a family member,” he said. “Sure there’s a legal process. But there’s also a human process. There is a family in the dark.”
Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel said earlier this week he will not release the body camera videos until the district attorney decides whether to issue charges, in keeping with past practice. His office is leading the review of Smith’s shooting in accordance with a state law that requires outside agencies to lead investigations of officer-involved deaths. The medical examiner’s office said an autopsy showed Smith was shot once in the chest and once in the right arm.
Smith, who had been arrested multiple times but never convicted of a felony, could legally possess a gun. His family has said he was a concealed-carry permit holder. Relatives remembered him as a “soft soul,” who loved animals, children and dancing. He is survived by a 2-year-old son.
Heaggan, 24, who began his career as a police aide in 2010 and became a sworn officer three years later, was recognized by the Police Department in 2014 for helping a homeless woman. Earlier this month, he was accused of using a Taser on a man without justification at a gas station in April, according to a notice of claim alleging “excessive, unreasonable and unjustified force.” That claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, is pending.
Heaggan, also known as Heaggan-Brown, is facing widespread threats on social media, and at a news conference the day after the shooting Flynn said the officer was out of town for his own safety.
Unlike in other controversial police shootings around the country, both men were black.