Milwaukee police shooting, pursuit tied to earlier homicide; suspect dead

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee police shot and killed a suspect following a pursuit tied to a fatal shooting earlier in the day on Monday, April 13.

What we know:

Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said a 27-year-old was shot and killed near 7th and Mitchell around 5:30 a.m. Investigators later identified a vehicle believed to be connected to that homicide.

Officers later located that same vehicle near 35th and Walnut during a separate shots-fired incident.

Around 4:45 p.m., Norman said officers attempted a traffic stop on the vehicle. Police said the driver fled, leading officers on a pursuit.

The vehicle eventually crashed near 35th and National. Police said the suspect then exited the vehicle and fired shots at officers.

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Several officers returned fire, striking the suspect. Police said firearms were recovered from the suspect and no one else was struck by gunfire.

Several people in the area described what they heard as a "shootout."

The suspect, identified as a 31-year-old man and the sole occupant of the vehicle, was taken to a hospital where he later died.

Norman also said a 34-year-old involved in the crash was transported to a hospital with non-fatal injuries, and said a few vehicles were struck by the suspect during the incident.

Eight Milwaukee police officers discharged their firearms. 

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They were identified as a 35-year-old man with more than eight years of service; three 33-year-old men with more than 14, nine and eight years of service; two 30-year-old men with more than 11 and seven years of service; a 29-year-old man with more than three years of service; and a 26-year-old man with more than seven months of service.

All officers involved will be placed on administrative duty, which is standard procedure following an officer-involved shooting.

The Milwaukee Area Investigative Team is investigating the incident, with the Wauwatosa Police Department serving as the lead agency.

Police said the investigation remains fluid and ongoing.

What they're saying:

The Milwaukee Police Association provided the following statement:

"Tonight tells the story the numbers don’t.

Today, city leaders pointed to first-quarter data and said "crime is down," including a reported decline in homicides. 

But tonight in Milwaukee, police were again forced to confront a fleeing homicide suspect. That encounter ended in an officer-involved shooting.

That is the reality our officers are facing.

Statistics can measure trends over time, but they do not capture what happens in real time on our streets — the danger, the volatility, and the split-second decisions officers are required to make when confronting violent offenders.

They also don’t always reflect how people feel in their neighborhoods.

When suspects are fleeing from homicide investigations, when officers are engaged in high-risk encounters like the one tonight, it reinforces what many in this community already know — serious violence remains a persistent and immediate threat.

Our members are the ones responding to that threat every day.

They run toward situations most people would do anything to avoid. They make decisions in seconds that will be analyzed for months or years. And tonight, once again, they did their job under extremely dangerous circumstances.

We will allow the investigation into tonight’s incident to run its course.

But let’s be clear about one thing: Public safety is not defined by a single quarterly statistic. It is defined by what is happening on the ground, in real time, in neighborhoods across this city.

And tonight is a reminder; our work is far from over."

Crime and Public SafetyMilwaukeeNews