MILWAUKEE -- Stories about heroes during the earliest hours of the weekend riots in Sherman Park are coming to light. We're also learning what people are doing today to help others. Not everyone this weekend was setting fires, firing a gun or throwing rocks. Others were struggling to stop the violence.
We ran into Tracey Dent Saturday night, just steps from a squad car fire, when he cautioned us to leave the area.
"I was in shock because I didn't know it was going to take it this far," said Dent.
Dent tells us he and two other men had a mission. It was to try to calm the crowd.
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"I'm trying to assess what's going on, why is this happening, and tell people that this is not the way," said Dent.
Dent saw rioters threaten and then chase down a photojournalist close to where the BP gas station was later set on fire.
"You know one of the reporters dropped his camera and took off running. So Von picked up the camera and ran, tried to catch up wth the guy," said Dent.
They caught up, returned his camera and told him, no one's gonna mess with you anymore.
"That's not us. So I don't know what happened. That rage just came out," said Dent.
At Sherman Park Thursday, 10 chaplains with the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team are offering prayers and were impressed with a young man who stopped by earlier in the day.
"He was here Saturday. He heard a lot of gunfire, he's seen friends that have been injured. He's seen people arrested around him," said Jeff Naber of the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team.
Jeff Naber says they were invited to Milwaukee from area churches. He's not sure how long they'll be here, but says they've already seen progress.
"And so we see God moving in this community," said Naber.
The chaplains here have responded to crises all over the world - others from the organization are headed to Louisiana for the floods. They say they pray about it, and God takes them to where they're needed most.
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