Officer shoots armed suspect during Walgreens robbery, two others in custody

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- A plainclothes Milwaukee police officer shot an armed suspect during a robbery at a Walgreens near Fond du Lac and Hampton on Wednesday morning, April 15th.

Police Chief Ed Flynn said the incident unfolded shortly before 10 a.m. Officers assigned to an anti-robbery detail investigating a rash of armed robberies at pharmacies were in the neighborhood. They saw two males wearing hooded sweatshirts walk into the Walgreens while a third person waited outside in an idling vehicle with no license plates. Officers detained the person in that vehicle -- and then entered the store.

Flynn says the officers encountered an armed suspect inside the Walgreens. That's when a plainclothes officer fired one round, striking the 20-year-old suspect. The suspect was taken to Froedtert Hospital for treatment of serious injuries. A firearm was recovered at the scene.

Flynn said it is believed this incident was caught on surveillance video -- but that video hasn't been released.

Albert Brooks was at the Walgreens store with his granddaughter, picking up medicine for his wife.

"We heard a big boom and we thought a balloon had busted. The lady that was running towards us said 'they are getting robbed.' I grabbed my baby and hid behind the partition where they do flu shots and the lady came running towards me. She was pregnant and I told her to come back where I was," Brooks said.

Brooks says he's just glad his two-year-old granddaughter Jayla is safe.

"All I was thinking about is my grandbaby. That's all," Brooks said.

Flynn told reporters it has become a "fashionable crime" to rob pharmacies of their prescription drugs. He indicated there have been a number of different robberies for drugs at pharmacies in the last four months.

The officer who fired the shot is a 57-year-old man with 22 years of service with the Milwaukee Police Department.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice is now handling the investigation into this case.

In a separate incident, a Walgreens store near 76th and Mill was robbed on Wednesday morning. Police are looking for the persons responsible for that incident.

Monitor FOX6 News and FOX6Now.com for updates on this developing story.