What we know and don't about the police shooting in Milwaukee near the RNC

Five Columbus, Ohio-based police officers shot a man armed with two knives just under a mile from the security perimeter for the Republican National Convention on Tuesday afternoon. He died from his injuries.

Here's what we know and what we don't know about the shooting.

What happened at the police shooting in Milwaukee?

Thirteen Columbus police officers were in the area near North 14th and West Vliet Streets for a briefing when they saw an altercation between two people, one of whom was holding a knife in each hand, according to preliminary information provided by Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman late Tuesday.

The officers ordered the man to drop the knives, he said.

The man did not do so, and then suddenly charged at the other individual, which is when police opened fire, Norman said.

Body camera footage and still frames released late Tuesday by Columbus police show the man was still armed with the knives, and lunging toward another man, at the time of the shooting.

The man died at the scene.

Two knives were recovered at the scene, the chief said.

Was the shooting in Milwaukee related to the RNC?

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the shooting "was determined to be non RNC."

The officers from Columbus, Ohio, were in Milwaukee as part of RNC security, however.

Several dozen Columbus officers are in Milwaukee. They're among the 4,000 non-Milwaukee law enforcement officers who arrived in Milwaukee for the RNC to assist in security, traffic and public safety from Saturday to Friday.

Law enforcement agencies from outside Wisconsin were from 24 states across the country, as well as the District of Columbia. Most of the participating agencies arrived from Florida, Ohio and North Dakota.

Who was Samuel Sharpe Jr., the man killed by Columbus, Ohio, police officers in Milwaukee?

The man was well-known in the neighborhood. He lived in one of the tent encampments, was known by the nickname Jehovah and took care of a pit bull named Ices, they said. Police could be seen removing the dog from the encampment around 2:30 and putting it in a MADACC van.

The man was identified later Tuesday as Samuel Sharpe Jr. by a first cousin, Larayne Sharpe, who spoke to reporters at the scene of the shooting.

Eddie Johnson, 55, a friend of the man, said he was a "beautiful person" who was known to walk his dog and carry a Bible.

"I don't understand this," Johnson said. "He didn't deserve that."

Shelly Sarasin, the co-founder and director of Street Angels, said her outreach group goes to the area every Monday with a mobile shower unit.

Jehovah began using Street Angels' shower in April and used it yesterday, too, she said.

As he was leaving, he kept saying "I love you guys," Sarasin said.

“We might be the last people he said that to,” she said.

Was the shooting in Milwaukee near the RNC?

The shooting took place just under a mile west of the Republican National Convention's security perimeter. The area is home to roughly 70 unhoused people who live in tents between 13th and 14th streets.

Multiple blocks near the area, near King Park, have been taped off by law enforcement.

What were Columbus officers doing near King Park when the shooting occurred?

At a news conference the day of the shooting, Norman had said the officers were in their assigned zone related to RNC duties for potential demonstration response. The shooting occurred on West Vliet Street near North 14th Street.

The department provided more clarity in a lengthy statement provided to reporters the following day. The Columbus officers were in their assigned zone, which included portions of the soft perimeter and extended into the area immediately surrounding it. The department also noted a protest had occurred near Vliet and 14th Streets the day before.

"All outside agencies have been assigned to areas that include the hard perimeter, the soft perimeter and/or the area immediately surrounding the soft perimeter," the department said.

Were Milwaukee police supposed to be accompanying all out-of-town officers?

Milwaukee police officials were clear before the RNC: They did not intend to use non-Milwaukee officers for "forward-facing" roles, and they wanted Milwaukee officers to be the ones interacting with local residents.

Mutual aid agreements signed by outside agencies had similar language, saying Milwaukee officers should be the ones to make arrests and requiring at least one Milwaukee officer on most assignments.

The day after the shooting, Milwaukee police said they did not consider the Columbus bicycle unit to be a forward-facing unit, since it was a specialty unit primarily tasked with traffic control and responding to potential demonstrations.

The department made changes and said that for the last two days of the convention, all bicycle units would have representation from Milwaukee police.

Who were the officers who shot Sharpe?

Two of the five police officers have previously been investigated for uses of force.

Nicholas Mason, who has been with the department since 2007, was cleared of criminal wrongdoing after fatally shooting a driver who accelerated during a traffic stop and dragged Mason along the car in 2017, the Columbus Dispatch first reported.

Adam Groves was one of six officers sued in 2016 on allegations of wrongful arrest and excessive use of force, which resulted in a settlement of $45,000 in 2020, according to the Dispatch.

Columbus police identified the other officers involved in the shooting as Austin Enos, Canaan Dick and Karl Eiginger.

The five officers did not continue to work the RNC after the shooting, according to a Milwaukee police statement the day after the shooting.

Will the police shooting be investigated?

The Milwaukee Area Investigative Team, led by the Greenfield Police Department, is investigating the fatal shooting.

Norman strongly defended the out-of-state officers in the shooting.

"Someone's life was in danger," he said. "These officers who are not from this area took upon themselves to act to save someone's life today."

Tuesday's shooting in Milwaukee marks the eighth time this year that Columbus police have shot someone, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Several dozen Columbus officers, including the Division of Police's dialogue team, are in Milwaukee, as are officers from other cities around the country, to assist with security.

Multiple sources told The Dispatch that dialogue officers — who are trained to facilitate people's demonstration rights and de-escalate situations — were not involved in the shooting.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What to know about police shooting today in Milwaukee near RNC