2024-07-17 08:20:02
Police fatally shot a man Tuesday about a mile away from the main Republican National Convention venue in Milwaukee, CNN affiliate WISN reported.
Witnesses told the station that two men were fighting in a local park when one of them pulled a knife out. Witnesses said the men were startled when officers responded and the man with the knife was shot by multiple officers, WISN reported, noting those details had not been confirmed by police.
Witnesses who spoke during a news conference with local activists near the shooting said they did not see any knife during the altercation between two men before the fatal police shooting. A family member identified the man shot as Samuel Sharpe Jr. and said he was a homeless veteran in his 40s.
The officers involved were from the Columbus, Ohio, Division of Police, according to a statement from the Fraternal Order of Police posted on social media.
“No officers have been injured however the condition of the suspect is currently unknown,” the statement read.
The Ohio agency is among several police departments from multiple cities and jurisdictions in Milwaukee to help secure the RNC site, the statement continued.
Columbus Division of Police Chief Elaine R. Bryant later Tuesday night released a 31-second, edited video that is partially blurred. It starts with the officers engaged in a briefing before turning their attention to an altercation involving two men nearby.
They immediately point their weapons and run toward the altercation, yelling at the man, previously identified Sharpe, to drop his weapon, the video shows.
Sharpe appears to walk toward the other man when the officers fire their weapons and Sharpe goes down, the video shows.
Bryant said in the statement that Sharpe was “threatening” the other person before the shots were fired by officers.
“We’re not even two days into this RNC and we have a casualty. How is that possible?” activist Alan Chavoya said during the news conference. “As always, no answers from the MPD, no transparency, no accountability.”
In a statement, the ACLU of Wisconsin called for a “full and transparent” investigation into what led up to the shooting and the “swift release” of bodycam video.
This post has been updated with comments from the Columbus Division of Police Chief and details of the video that showed the shooting.
