MILWAUKEE — Out-of-state police officers fatally shot a man blocks away from the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, raising questions about a security plan that had otherwise gone smoothly to start the week.
An unspecified number of police officers from Columbus, Ohio, opened fire on the man in the afternoon near King Park, authorities said. Community activists sharply criticized the shooting, which happened near an encampment for unhoused people, calling it unjustified.
It happened about four blocks away from the downtown security perimeter where Republican delegates are gathering in support of presidential nominee Donald Trump. Officers from more than 100 departments nationwide — including Chicago and Columbus — are in Milwaukee to help with convention security.
Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said about 1:10 p.m., 13 Columbus police officers were being briefed by supervisors on their assignment for the day when they saw two people fighting, one of them wielding a knife and the other unarmed.
The officers identified themselves, made “several commands” to drop the knife, and he refused, Norman said. Five officers opened fire, killing him. The officers were wearing activated body cameras, Norman said.
The police department in Greenfield, Wisconsin, will handle an independent investigation of the use of force.
“Someone’s life was in danger,” Norman said. “These officers, who are not from this area, took it upon themselves to act to save someone’s life today.”
Columbus police said the shooting happened “within the operational zone to which our officers were assigned.”
“At this time, it does not appear that this incident was related to the convention,” Columbus police said in a statement.
Laray Sharpe, who said she was the victim’s cousin, identified the deceased as Samuel Sharpe Jr., a man in his 40s who lived in the King Park encampment. “What are you doing in our city anyway, coming here and shooting people down?” she said in tears.
Nearby residents and activists decried the Ohio officers’ use of force, saying they had been promised by Milwaukee police that out-of-town law enforcement would be stationed near the downtown arena where convention events are being hosted through Thursday.
“This is a predominantly Black neighborhood on the North Side of Milwaukee, and Columbus cops had absolutely no reason to be here,” said Aurelia Ceja, co-chair of the Milwaukee Alliance against Racist and Political Repression.
Ceja is also a leader of the Coalition to March on the Republican National Convention, which led the first large-scale RNC protest, a demonstration that went peacefully on Monday. Coalition activist Alan Chavoya said they had raised concerns with Norman the Milwaukee police chief about thousands of non-Milwaukee police officers “descending on Milwaukee” for convention security.
“We’re not even two days into this RNC and we have a casualty,” Chavoya said.
Teenagers Jaquan Thomas and Amarion Washington said they were playing basketball in King Park when they saw at least four uniformed police officers riding bicycles toward the encampment, where two people appeared to be wrestling. They heard four or five shots and ran.
“They didn’t have to kill that man,” Thomas said.
Pastor Radontae Ashford of The Infinite Church of Milwaukee said about 50 people live in the encampment. "There's an entire community, a whole neighborhood," he said. "We need answers."
Wanda Campbell said she lives near the shooting scene and saw it happen.
“They shot him in the back,” said Campbell. “They shot him like a dog… None of this would’ve happened if the RNC wasn’t happening.”
The Milwaukee County medical examiner’s office confirmed a fatality at the location near 14th and Vliet streets but didn’t release the man’s name or the circumstances of his death.
