Five police officers from Columbus, Ohio, shot and killed an armed man early Tuesday afternoon just west of downtown Milwaukee, Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said.
The shooting occurred near North 14th and West Vliet Streets just under a mile from the security perimeter for the Republican National Convention.
No Milwaukee police officers were involved.
Thirteen Columbus police officers were in the area for a briefing when they saw an altercation between two people, one of whom was holding a knife in each hand, according to preliminary information provided by Norman late Tuesday.
The officers ordered the man to drop the knives, he said.
The man did not do so, and then suddenly charged at the other individual, which is when police opened fire, Norman said.
Body camera and still frames released late Tuesday by Columbus police show the man was still armed with the knives, and lunging toward another man, at the time of the shooting.
Two knives were recovered at the scene, the chief said.
Norman strongly defended the out-of-state officers in the shooting.
“Someone’s life was in danger,” he said. “These officers who are not from this area took upon themselves to act to save someone’s life today.”
The officers were in their assigned zone related to RNC duties for potential demonstration response, Norman said.
The Milwaukee Area Investigative Team, led by the Greenfield Police Department, is investigating the fatal shooting.
The situation unfolded rapidly, with 15 seconds passing from when officers first noticed the man was armed with a knife to when they fired shots.
‘I don’t understand this’: Neighbors shaken, critical of out-of-state cops
The man who was killed was well-known in the neighborhood, several witnesses told the Journal Sentinel.
He lived in one of the tent encampments, was known by the nickname Jehovah and took care of a pit bull, they said. Police could be seen removing the dog from the encampment around 2:30 and putting it in a MADACC van.
The man was identified later Tuesday as Samuel Sharpe Jr. by a first cousin, Linda Sharpe, who spoke to reporters at the scene of the shooting.
Eddie Johnson, 55, a friend of the man, said he was a “beautiful person” who was known to walk his dog and carry a Bible.
“I don’t understand this,” Johnson said. “He didn’t deserve that.”
Two people, Christina Kugler and Mark Walker, said they saw the shooting happen as the man was in the street.
Emmanuel King, 31, said he and a few others were at King Park playing cans and listening to music shortly after 1 p.m. when they saw a group of about 15 officers on bicycles. About the same time, King saw two men fighting on 14th Street and asked them to stop because of the nearby police presence.
Shelly Sarasin, the co-founder and director of Street Angels, said her outreach group goes to the area every Monday with a mobile shower unit.
Jehovah began using Street Angels’ shower in April and used it yesterday, too, she said.
As he was leaving, he kept saying “I love you guys,” Sarasin said.
“We might be the last people he said that to,” she said.
Sarasin said the death will impact the roughly 70 unhoused people who live in tents between 13th and 14th streets.
“He was a person. He was human,” she said, visibly shaken by the shooting. “This is more trauma on top of trauma for those who knew him and still live here.”
Aurelia Ceja of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression criticized that out-of-state police were involved. The group had planned a vigil for late Tuesday.
Vaun Mayes, a prominent community activist, said he was concerned with the plan to bring non-Milwaukee police from “red states” who may not be familiar with Milwaukee communities. He did not think the shooting would’ve happened if it had been Milwaukee police. Mayes is familiar with the neighborhood from his work and dealing with its homeless population. He has successfully de-escalated fights in the area, he said.
Thousands of additional cops in Milwaukee for RNC
Prior to the convention, Milwaukee officials estimated about 4,000 officers from law enforcement agencies outside the city would take part in policing the city this week.
Milwaukee police had said they intended to assign outside officers to positions that are not public-facing — such as traffic control — while Milwaukee officers would have primary contact with members of the community. Any assignments given to outside officers were supposed to include at least one Milwaukee police officer, according to the mutual aid agreement.
On Tuesday, Norman said Milwaukee police had provided briefings to visiting officers when they arrived. During the short news conference, he did not provide more details about the duties of the outside officers or any supervision the Milwaukee Police Department had over them.
Milwaukee Ald. Robert Bauman, who represents the district where the shooting happened, raised concerns about the involvement of out-of-state officers.
If the Ohio officers were by themselves without MPD, Bauman said, that would be a problem.
“If it was an MPD officer, he would have known, no, no, no this is King Park, this is a known area for homeless to camp out, lots of folks with mental disabilities in here, tread carefully, de-escalate,” he said.
He added: “They’re in unfamiliar territory and they don’t know King Park from Central Park.”
Bauman’s comments came before Columbus police released bodycam footage from the incident.
Outside officers in the city providing mutual aid for the RNC are required to follow the Milwaukee Police Department’s standard operating procedures on use of force, crowd control and rules of engagement.
According to an agreement signed by partner agencies, any disciplinary matters that arise with an outside officer will be referred to the home agency.
If the matter rises to the level of probable cause for a crime, it will be referred directly to MPD or an external law enforcement agency for investigation “with appropriate notice to Contractor,” according to the agreement.
Tuesday’s shooting in Milwaukee marks the eighth time this year that Columbus police have shot someone, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Several dozen Columbus officers, including the Division of Police’s dialogue team, are in Milwaukee, as are officers from other cities around the country, to assist with security.
Multiple sources told The Dispatch that dialogue officers — who are trained to facilitate people’s demonstration rights and de-escalate situations — were not involved in the shooting.
Milwaukee homeless shelter expanded services for RNC
Jehovah was familiar by a different name to Father Mike Bertram, ministry director for Capuchin Community Services, which runs the St. Ben’s Community Meal, a nightly meal for the homeless and hungry.
St. Ben’s has expanded its services this week to be open as a day and overnight shelter in an effort to give homeless individuals a safe, cool place to stay as the Republican National Convention may displace some people from their usual spots.
Last night the shelter was near its capacity of 40 men, Bertram said. People have said they are eager, and grateful, for a safe place to rest, he said.
Prior to the RNC, Bertram publicly offered St. Ben’s staff to defuse any conflicts between homeless individuals and police near the security perimeter. In light of the shooting, he’s hoping that more officers reach out if intervention is needed.
One challenge is that out-of-town police may not know about St. Ben’s.
“It’s really sad, it’s really tragic,” he said. “I hope that we can make some more communication with law enforcement to say … we’re here, we’re willing to help in any way that we can, to deescalate a situation, or to simply invite someone (to stay here).”
Alison Dirr and Gina Castro of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
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