Ohio Police Officer Shoots, Kills Milwaukee Resident Outside RNC

Milwaukee Police Department officers at N. 13th St. and W. Vliet St. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A Columbus, Ohio police officer shot and killed a Milwaukee resident Tuesday afternoon near the intersection of W. Vliet and N. 14th streets.

Columbus is one of more than 100 agencies that sent law enforcement officers to help guard the Republican National Convention, a federally-designated National Special Security Event.

The location of the shooting is more than a half mile west of the convention security perimeter, across Interstate 43 and in an area where there are virtually no hotels or attractions.

The victim, Urban Milwaukee has confirmed, is Sam Sharpe. Sharpe, according to individuals that knew him, voluntarily lived in a tent in the neighborhood. Anchored by King Park, the area has one of the city’s largest homeless populations.

Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman previously said that outside officers would be paired with MPD personnel.

The news that an outside officer was involved in the shooting and it was many blocks from the RNC grounds drew complaints and criticism from many activists who had gathered at or near the police perimeter alongside journalists.

“It’s always trust the process. Well, look what the process got us,” said Alan Chavoya from the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Oppression.

Activists said the situation was compounded by the suspension of standard operating procedure 575, which required body camera footage to be released to famlies in 48 hours and the public in 15 days.

“Now we have no answers about what happened in our community,” said Aurelia Ceja.

Two teens said they were witness to the shooting while walking to King Park. One, identified as Kwam, said there were an estimated seven shots.

Up to 4,000 outside officers were expected for the RNC, though the city has declined to provide a specific figure. Urban Milwaukee had observed several outside officers beyond the security perimeter, but near other convention facilities like the Pfister Hotel or escorting state delegations.

“We want to know why there was an out-of-state police officer in this area in the first place,” said pastor Radontae Ashford of Infinite Church. Ashford said he has provided outreach to those in the community. “They don’t have food. They don’t have water. Some of them don’t have families. They don’t have a voice. We want to make sure we speak for them.”

A cousin of Sharpe’s said Sam Sharpe was a homeless military veteran in his 40s.

“We need answers from our elected officials,” said Ashford.

“Everybody could have predicted what happened here today and we did,” said State Rep. Ryan Clancy (D-Milwaukee) about frustrations with the use of outside law officers.

“This is the type of crap that we told them would happen and they still brought it regardless,” said Chavoya.

A police press conference is expected to take place Tuesday evening, but had not been publicly scheduled as of 5:15 p.m.

This story is about breaking news and will be updated.