Police officers shoot dead a gunman near the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee
Police officers shot dead this Tuesday a man armed with a knife approximately one and a half kilometers from the grounds where the Republican National Convention is being held in Milwaukee (Wisconsin), in the United States, as reported by several local media citing police sources .
The police officers, as detailed by an official to The New York Post, belonged to the Columbus (Ohio) department and were in Milwaukee because they were part of the 4,500 officers who help local authorities protect the city during the convention, which will last until Thursday coming.
Details of the incident
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the shooting occurred near North 14th and West Vliet streets, outside the security perimeter of the convention, which is being held at Fiserv Stadium in this Wisconsin city.
A local television channel, WISN 12 News, has reported, citing witnesses, that there was a fight between two men in the King Park neighborhood of the city, and that the police shot and killed one of them. Both were black people.
Allegedly, a group of police officers were on bicycle patrol and encountered two men in the middle of a fight, at least one of whom had a knife. Some officers ran towards them and, when the man did not comply with the order to drop the bladed weapon, at least five policemen fired at the same time to shoot him down. All in less than 20 seconds.
On the social network ‘X’ (formerly Twitter), a video relating to the events has begun to circulate and some American media have already published images of the incident: the recordings of the camera worn by the officers in uniform. The deceased has already been identified as Samuel Sharpe Jr.
Demonstration of complaint
On the night of the incident, a group of protesters gathered to denounce the police action and the celebration of the Republican convention in Milwaukee, which brought an increase in police from other states. Carrying signs reading “Long live Sam. May he rest in peace” or “Justice for Sam,” residents and members of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression have called for tents to be held to keep the protest going .
“The city kept telling us that it would be people like us who would cause trouble during the Republican National Convention, and we warned them for years that it would be the police from other states who would cause trouble,” said Alan Chavoya in statements in Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “We told them this would happen,” he added.