A gas station burned to the ground during violence in Sherman Park is set to rebuild.
That information was released to TODAY'S TMJ4 through the owner's lawyer. Neighbors near the BP Gas Station say it is a needed step in the community.
Fire lit up the night August 13, 2016, hours after Syville Smith was shot and killed by a Milwaukee police officer. People looted and burned the BP Gas Station on the corner of Sherman and Burleigh. Workers were trapped inside for a time while the violence raged. By the morning, nothing was left.
The gas station had been the center of controversy earlier in the summer when a worker fired a shot into the air after some teens gathered outside the store. That lead to protests and calls for a boycott.
But neighbors says the gas station is needed in Sherman Park and want it back.
- SPECIAL SECTION: Sherman Park Healing
"I used to get my little snacks here on my way to work," said Leon E. Wallace, who lives nearby.
Wallace said it was even more than that.
"It helped out a little of everything. I went in there and he would like cash a check one time," said Wallace.
It was a safe place to get off the bus.
"Especially at night when I am coming home from work I used to depend on this service station being open for people to look out. Now it's not here anymore," said Antoinette Putnam, who lives in the neighborhood.
It was where Traci Whitley filled up with gas and got items for her kids.
"Where is the stores? You don't have anything convenient," said Whitley.
And the neighbors want the owner Pakhar Singh to know he is welcome.
"We'll support him," said Whitley.
"I will definitely support him if he opens the service station back up," said Putnam.
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