Five Ohio Police Officers Shoot, Kill Milwaukee Resident Outside RNC

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

It had nothing to do with the Republican National Convention. It had everything to do with the Republican National Convention.

On a Near West Side street Tuesday afternoon, five Columbus, Ohio police officers intervened in an altercation, killing a Milwaukee resident.

The deceased, 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.

“The officers observed a subject armed with a knife in each hand engaged in an altercation with another unarmed individual. The officer identified themselves as police officers and made several commands to the suspect to drop the knife. The suspect refused these commands and charged at the other individual with the knives,” said Norman.

The incident occurred near the intersection of W. Vliet and N. 14th streets at approximately 1:10 p.m. said the chief.

Body camera footage released shortly after the press conference Tuesday evening shows the officers discussing conflicts between abortion-related protesters before someone spotted the knife, and several officers start running toward the two individuals and yelling to drop the knife. Several gunshots can be heard. Sharpe was facing away from the officers and moving towards the other individual.

Columbus is one of more than 100 agencies that sent law enforcement officers to help guard the RNC, 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.

What were they doing there? Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said 13 Columbus officers were receiving a briefing from their “supervision” in their “assigned zone.” He said outside officers are assigned to patrol “areas of concern” around the convention.

“This was a situation where somebody’s life was in immediate danger,” said Norman and that the officers saved someone’s life.

The officers, said Norman, are part of the Columbus demonstration response team. The unit, wearing police dialogue unit vests, helped protect the Coalition to March on the RNC Tuesday.

Norman previously said that outside officers would be paired with MPD personnel. He did not address that during a press conference Tuesday, other than to say that the city is “reviewing everything with regard to its operation” and no decision has been made on whether the Columbus officers will remain in Milwaukee.

As standard protocol, the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team will investigate the officer involved shooting. The Greenfield Police Department will serve as the lead agency.

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 in an activist press conference held approximately two hours before the police press conference.

Linda Sharpe said her cousin was a preacher to his family and friends. “He loved people. He loved everyone,” said Sharpe. Another relative of Sharpe told Urban Milwaukee that Sharpe regularly checked in with his family and was believed to have been repeatedly harassed recently. He was known as Jehovah and took care of a pitbull.

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

“Now we have no answers about what happened in our community,” said Aurelia Ceja, also of the Milwaukee Alliance.

But within several hours of the activist and Norman’s press conferences, body camera video was released by the Columbus Division of Police.

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.”

“We need answers from our elected officials,” said Ashford. He stressed that the story was not the RNC. It was that a homeless Milwaukee resident was killed by law enforcement and that others would wake up tomorrow hungry.

“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.

Outside law enforcement agencies have arrest authority and other police powers through an emergency order issued by Governor Tony Evers.

The news of the police shooting comes at the same day it was revealed that Norman is one of two finalists to serve as the Austin, Texas police chief. He was announced as one of 32 finalists in June.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that the Ohio police department has had eight officer shootings this year. Outside agencies are to follow MPD standard operating procedures and were given briefings, said Norman.

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