Columbus, Ohio, police shot and killed a homeless man near King Park in Milwaukee on Tuesday. The shooting occurred more than a mile from the security perimeter of the Republican National Convention, which has drawn more than 4,000 police from across the country to the city.
Security camera footage of the incidentIn the video, obtained by the Wisconsin Examiner from the Milwaukee Alliance, a community organization, two men can be seen walking into the street and appearing to be fighting when police officers step in and immediately shoot one of them.
A group of teenagers who were playing basketball in the park said police began shooting within 20 seconds of arriving on the scene. King Park is known to be homeless tent community, the size of which has changed over the years. On Monday evening, the Poor People’s Army led a march from King Park to the Republican National Convention site to raise awareness about the needs of the homeless. Community members near the scene said the victim, first identified by Urban Milwaukee as Sam Sharpe, was living in an encampment in the park. Some residents said the man was known to live in the park with his dog.
Area residents said they wanted to know why the Ohio officers were outside the RNC security perimeter. “I heard the chief say he was going to protect not only the perimeter, but the city,” area resident Carl Gray told the Wisconsin Examiner. “We’re not protected, it’s not protection when you have Ohio police coming in here and killing Milwaukeeans.”
Aurelia Ceja, a spokeswoman for the Milwaukee Alliance, told the Wisconsin Examiner that the shooting was a “worst-case scenario” for the RNC coming to Milwaukee after activists warned city officials that inviting thousands of additional law enforcement officers into the community posed a threat. She added that Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said before the convention that officers from outside agencies would not patrol outside the convention’s security perimeter.
Brian Steel, president of the Columbus police union, said in a statement that the union “has been informed that members of the Columbus Police Department were involved in an officer-involved shooting at the Republican National Convention… No officers were injured.”
Steel told the Examiner that Columbus had sent 40 officers to Milwaukee for the RNC convention, adding that he expected the two officers involved in the shooting to leave but that the others would remain in the city to “complete their mission.”
With thousands of police officers from federal, state and local agencies across the country in the city, questions were referred to the Milwaukee Police Department, which had not issued a statement on the incident as of 5:45 p.m. Tuesday evening.
A candlelight vigil is planned for 8:00 p.m. in King Park.
