Three parking checkers shot at in two separate incidents

Alderman Bob Donovan said had he not stopped to talk to a city employee earlier this week he may never had known that three city parking checkers had been shot at while on the job during the past 10 days.

“I was in shock when he (employee) told me about the shootings – my jaw dropped,” said Alderman Donovan, chair of the Public Safety and Health Committee. “It is by the sheer grace of God that no one was wounded or killed.”

The shooting incidents were confirmed yesterday by Department of Public Works Commissioner Ghassan Korban, Alderman Donovan said.

Alderman Donovan said he cannot believe that Council members were not notified about the incidents. “I’m very angry about it, and one city department representative actually said to me ‘Well Alderman we would have let you know had they been shot,’” he said. “That makes me wonder what else has happened to our workers in the field that we don’t know about.”

Alderman Donovan said in one of the incidents a checker had been “threatened by a thug who warned her to ‘never ticket my vehicle.’” “Sure enough the checker was shot at when she later came back and attempted to ticket the threat maker’s vehicle – just chilling,” he said.

Alderman Tony Zielinski, chair of the Licenses Committee, said the incidents are hitting far too close in the wake of the fatal shooting of Department of Neighborhood Services’ inspector Greg “Ziggy” Zyszkiewicz earlier this year while he was working in the field. “I’m not the only one who believes the Barrett Administration seems to want to keep many things under wraps and out of public view, and here (parking checker shootings) is just one more reason that backs that thinking up,” he said.

Alderman Mark A. Borkowski, chair of the Judiciary and Legislation Committee, said he is troubled by the parking checker shootings on multiple levels.

“I am outraged that our city employees have become the subject of target practice while just trying to do their jobs,” Alderman Borkowski said. “I’m also mortified that there are multiple shootings and that it’s just not some isolated event.”

“But sadly, this (shooting at city workers) has just become a regular thing, it would appear, and I am outraged that there’s not actual outrage,” Alderman Borkowski said.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.