Gunshots Prevent Milwaukee Firefighters from Battling Fire

MILWAUKEE – A standoff between police and an angry crowd turned violent Saturday night in the hours after a Milwaukee police officer shot and killed an armed suspect during a foot chase on the city’s north side.

After an hours-long confrontation with officers, police reported at 10:15 p.m. that a gas station at Sherman Blvd. and Burleigh St. was set on fire. Police said firefighters could not get close to the blaze because of gunshots.

Earlier in the evening, more than 100 people gathered near the scene at N. 44th St. and W. Auer Ave. and at times pushed against a line of 20 to 30 officers, some of whom were in riot gear.

At one point, the officers got in their cars to leave and some in the crowd started smashing the windows and side of a squad car. Another vehicle was set on fire. As officers returned to the scene, this time more in riot gear, as many as seven shots could be heard about 8:45 to 9 p.m.

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The shots appeared to be fired in the air by someone in the crowd.

Soon thereafter, the crowd turned on and chased reporters and a photographer from the Journal Sentinel. One reporter was shoved to the ground and punched.

Police later tweeted that an officer was hit in the head with a brick that was throw through a squad window. Police said the officer was being treated at a hospital.

At nearly 11 p.m., police tweeted that gunshots again were fired near N. 44th St. and W. Auer Ave.

The string of violence erupted not long after a woman who identified herself as family member of the dead man implored the people to leave the scene.

“We don’t want anyone else to go to jail or get hurt,” she told the crowd.

Some left but many stayed as tensions built.

The shooting occurred Saturday afternoon.

City police officials said two officers stopped two suspects in a car about 3:30 p.m. The suspects then took off on foot. During the pursuit, a six-year veteran of the department shot and killed a 23-year-old Milwaukee resident, who was carrying a semiautomatic handgun, police said.

The officer was not hurt.

Shortly after the shooting, Milwaukee Police Assistant Chief Bill Jessup said at the scene that it wasn’t immediately clear whether the suspect pointed the gun or shot at the officer.

“Those additional facts will come out in the coming days,” Jessup said.

City police officials have not interviewed the officer, Jessup said. That responsibility will fall to the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation, which is required by state law to take over officer-involved shooting investigations.

“That officer had to make a split-second decision when the person confronted him with a handgun,” Jessup said. “This is a risk they take every day on behalf of our community.”

Jessup said he didn’t immediately know why the officers stopped the suspects.

Police said the suspect had a “lengthy arrest record,” though the specific crimes were not detailed. The suspect was carrying a handgun taken in a March burglary in Waukesha. The owner reported that 500 rounds of ammunition also were stolen.

The officer is 24 and assigned to District 7. He will be placed on administrative duty during the investigation and subsequent review by the district attorney’s office.

The second suspect who fled on foot, also a 23-year-old man, was apprehended and is in custody, Jessup said.

The shooting occurred about one block northwest of the scene of a Friday evening homicide, and about four blocks west of a Saturday morning double homicide. Five people died in shooting-related homicides during a nine-hour stretch in the city on Friday night and Saturday morning.

“As everyone knows, this was a very, very violent 24 hours in the city of Milwaukee,” Jessup said. “Our officers are out here taking risks on behalf of the community and making split-second decisions.”

Nefataria Gordon said she knew the man who had been killed by the officer. “He was a nice good person. He was really respected. That’s why everyone came out. They’re angry.”

The clash comes after a series of tense episodes in Milwaukee involving residents and police, including one just before the Fourth of July weekend near Sherman Park.

In early July, a group of several dozen young people threw rocks and bottles, damaging windows of a gas station and a county transit bus near Sherman Park. Law enforcement beefed up their presence for several days there. Some activists said it was an intimidating presence. At the same time, the incidents also led to a surge in residents and local leaders promoting positive activity there.

Regular protests also followed the fatal police shootings of Jay Anderson in Wauwatosa in 2016 and Dontre Hamilton in Milwaukee in 2014.

On the same day federal prosecutors announced they would not seek charges against the ex-officer who killed Hamilton, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn requested the U.S. Department of Justice review the Police Department.

The review, called a “collaborative reform initiative,” is a voluntary process and a less adversarial option than a consent decree — formal monitoring through the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division resulting from a “pattern-and-practice” investigation.

More than 700 people packed the first listening session in the review process and described their experiences with Milwaukee police. Federal officials say the review will examine the department’s recruitment, hiring, and personnel practices; community-oriented policing and problem solving; use of force and deadly force practices; citizen stop and search practices; and systems for supervision, accountability, learning, remediation, and discipline.

The review is still underway and an initial report expected to be released this fall.

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©2016 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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