Police shot and killed a man on Tuesday about a mile from the main venue of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, CNN affiliate WISN reported.
Witnesses told the station they saw two men fighting at a local park and one of them pulled a knife. When police arrived, the man was surprised, the witness said, and the knife-wielding man was shot by multiple officers. WISN reported that these details have not been confirmed by police.
Witnesses at a news conference with local activists near the scene said they did not see a knife during the argument between the two men before the fatal police shooting. Family members identified the man who was shot as Samuel Sharpe Jr. and said he was a homeless military veteran in his 40s.
According to a statement posted on social media by the Brotherhood of Police, the officers involved were from the Columbus Police Department in Ohio.
“No officers were injured, but the suspect’s condition is currently unknown,” the statement said.
The Ohio State Police Department is one of several city and jurisdictional police departments in Milwaukee helping with security at the Republican National Convention site, according to the statement.
Milwaukee police will provide additional information “as it becomes available,” officials said in a social media post.
“The Republican National Convention is not even two days old and there are casualties. How can this happen?,” activist Alan Chaboya said at a news conference. “As always, there are no answers from MPD, no transparency and no accountability.”
In a statement, the ACLU of Wisconsin called for a “full and transparent” investigation into what led to the shooting and the “immediate release” of body camera footage.
“With more than 4,000 police officers gathering in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, we have long been concerned that a heavy police presence increases the risk of deadly police encounters, especially by out-of-state officers who may not know or be accountable to our community,” Executive Director Dr. Melinda Brennan said in a statement. “We offer our condolences to the friends and family of the victims.”
This post has been updated with additional reporting.
