Police in Columbus, Ohio, told a homeless man in Milwaukee who was pointing two knives at another man over and over again on a bodycam video that came out Tuesday night. The film shows that when the man with the knife charged at the other man, police shot him several times, killing him.
Five police officers from Columbus shot and killed Samuel Sharpe Jr. while working for Milwaukee to help protect the Republican National Convention, the head of the police union said Tuesday night. The officers will be sent back to Columbus.
Jeff Norman, the chief of police in Milwaukee, said the shooting happened near North 14th and West Vliet Streets, which is a little less than a mile from the Republican National Convention security barrier.
“Thirteen Columbus police officers were in the area for a briefing when they saw an altercation between two people, one of whom was holding a knife in each hand, according to preliminary information provided by Norman late Tuesday,” he said.
Norman said that there were no Milwaukee police officers present.
The video from the body-worn cameras was made public to be open and honest, and Mayor Andrew J. Ginther said it “shows that Columbus’ officers acted by their training to prevent physical harm to a potential victim.”
“Columbus officers were guests in Milwaukee, but they take an oath to protect and serve, wherever and whenever they are called to service,” he said.
The city of Columbus will back “a full and thorough investigation of the events that happened, in line with local policy and law.” Ginther said, “We continue to wait for more information from the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team about the progress of the investigation.”
Brian Steel, head of the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge No. 9, said that police shot a man who was waving a steak knife at other people and/or police. According to people in Columbus, the person had been living in a tent and was homeless.
Steel said he didn’t know if the police had tried to calm down the man or used a stun gun before killing him. Steel said that no Columbus police officers were hurt, but he didn’t know anything else about what happened.
Steel told the press at the Whitehall Police Department that the five officers from Columbus are going back home, but the 35 officers that the city sent will stay in Milwaukee.
Several people who saw what happened told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the man who died there was well-known, lived in a tent camp, and went by the name “Jehovah.” The man’s name has not been given by the police, but a cousin later said that the man was Sharpe.
Officers from Columbus, as well as the Division of Police’s dialogue team, and other places across the country, are in Milwaukee to help with security. The Dispatch has heard from several people that dialogue officers had nothing to do with the shooting.
A shooting took place near North 14th and West Vliet streets, which is not inside the Republican National Convention security boundary.
The shooting killed an adult man, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office. As Steel put it, no Columbus police officers were hurt.
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