Milwaukee mayor reacts to fatal shooting of homeless man by Ohio police in town for RNC
The morning after Ohio police in town for the Republican National Convention fatally shot a homeless man, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson on Wednesday said the officers' response appeared to have saved another man's life.
"No one, absolutely no one, wanted this outcome, and I anticipate a full as well as thorough investigation," Johnson said during an early morning press conference outside City Hall. "The deceased individual had family, had friends, and my thoughts certainly are with them. My thoughts are also with the police officers from Columbus, Ohio. I'm sure they did not expect to be drawn into a tragic situation such as the one that they were involved in yesterday."
He added: "The information we have leaves a clear impression that these Columbus officers, they saved the life of an unarmed man from death or perhaps serious injury."
On Tuesday afternoon, five officers from Columbus, Ohio, shot and killed a man identified by a cousin as Samuel Sharpe Jr., who lived in one of Milwaukee's tent encampments and was known in the near west side neighborhood around King Park.
Thirteen Columbus officers were holding a briefing when they saw an altercation between two people, one of whom had a knife in each hand, according to preliminary information provided by Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman late Tuesday.
He did not drop the knives when ordered to by police and instead suddenly lunged at the other person, which is when police opened fire, Norman said.
Police body camera footage from one of the Columbus officers shows a man armed with two knives moving toward another man and not complying with officers' orders to drop it. The footage was released hours after the shooting.
Mourners on Tuesday night took to the streets, condemning Milwaukee officials for hosting the RNC, a national special security event that brought 4,000 or so officers to the city from across the state and nation.
Some said the outcome would have been different had Milwaukee police familiar with the area and the unhoused people who reside there responded to the situation instead of out-of-town officers.
Johnson called the situation "tragic" but also pushed back.
"I don't want people to lose their lives," he said. "My understanding from the conversations that I've had with police officers is that the likelihood is that any officer who saw a citizen about to be attacked by somebody wielding not one knife but two knives, refused officers' commands to drop the knives and then proceeded to lunge at an individual in a manner that was threatening would have taken the same action," Johnson said.
The shooting took place at North 14th and West Vliet streets, just under a mile west of the RNC's security perimeter.
This story will be updated.
Journal Sentinel reporters John Diedrich, Ashley Luthern, Jessica Van Egeren, Sophie Carson, David Clarey, Drake Bentley, Gina Lee Castro, and Jessica Rodriguez contributed to this story along with USA TODAY-Network reporters Bethany Bruner, Bailey Gallion, Shahid Meighan, Michael Loria, Michael Collins.
Alison Dirr can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee mayor reacts to police shooting of homeless man during RNC
