Police release bodycam footage of fatal Milwaukee shooting near RNC
Police officers from Columbus, Ohio, fatally shot an armed man in Milwaukee on Tuesday afternoon. The officers were in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention and were in a park just west of downtown where the convention is being held.
A vigil was planned Tuesday evening for the man, who was known in the area by the nickname Jehovah and identified as Samuel Sharpe Jr. by a first cousin, Linda Sharpe, who spoke to reporters at the scene of the shooting.
Body cam footage from one of the Columbus officers, released hours after the shooting, shows the man was armed with two knives and moving toward another man. The man who was shot did not comply with officers' orders to drop the knives.
Here is what the 45-second video shows.
More: What we know and don't about the police shooting in Milwaukee near the RNC
0:00-0:16: Officers are heard discussing RNC protesters, in particular the two sides of the abortion issue. They are in a parking lot of the park, about a mile from Fiserv Forum where the RNC is being held. Video of the officers is blurred, but at least eight officers are standing in a circle for the briefing. The officers' bicycles are visible.
0:17-0:20: One of the officers says, "He's got a knife!" Another officer or perhaps the same says, "Yes he does." Several officers yell "hey." At this point, the officers appear to be about 50 yards from where two men are in a confrontation in the street. The blur on the video comes off and one of the officer's guns is visible.
0:21-0:25: Several officers appear to be running toward the altercation and are yelling "Drop the knife! Police!" It is difficult to see what is happening in the fight in this segment. There are two shirtless men in the street, one with a hat on.
0:26-0:30: As the officers close in, the man in the white hat turns toward the approaching officers and then turns back to the other man and continues to move toward him and then lunges at him as the officers continue yelling and close in.
0:31-0:35: The officers open fire, killing the man, who collapses in the street. Officials said five officers fired their weapons. One of the officers appears to yell, "Hold fire! Hold fire!" as the man collapses and the other man moves back, unharmed.
0:35-:45: In this segment, our journalists have slowed down the video and included details on-screen to see what happened at key moments as officers approached.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Police release bodycam footage of fatal Milwaukee shooting near RNC
