OSHKOSH - A 28-year-old Oshkosh man died after a police officer shot him early Monday morning, authorities confirmed.

Isaiah Tucker died at a local hospital after an incident at about 2:20 a.m. Monday at a home in the 300 block of Knapp Street, Oshkosh Police Chief Dean Smith said during an afternoon news conference. An officer fired at Tucker "several times" as Tucker drove a car toward the officer while trying to flee the scene, the chief said.

The two officers involved in the incident, whose names authorities will not release until investigators interview them, are on paid administrative leave, Smith said.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation has taken over the investigation and will be reviewing the officers' body cam footage of the incident, Smith said.

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"This is truly a tragedy that we wish did not occur," Smith said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the officers involved in the incident. We also give our condolences and prayers to members of the family of the deceased."

About 2:20 a.m. Monday, 911 dispatchers took a call about Tucker trying to take items from a home in the 300 block of Knapp Street, Smith said. Court records indicate Tucker lived there as recently as May, though Smith said Tucker's most recent home address was in the 3400 block of Logan Drive.

After officers got to the Knapp Street home, Tucker crashed a vehicle through a garage door, Smith said. When an officer tried to get Tucker out of the vehicle, he sped toward the second officer, who was in the backyard.

The second officer shot at the vehicle several times, before it fled the scene, Smith said.

Police later found the vehicle abandoned in the 800 block of West Sixth Avenue and found the wounded Tucker hiding in a nearby shed, Smith said. The Oshkosh Fire Department took Tucker to a local hospital, where authorities pronounced him dead.

The Winnebago County Coroner's Office took Tucker's body to the Fond du Lac County Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy, Smith said.

"We wish to give DCI the time needed to conduct a thorough and complete investigation," Smith said. "It is our desire that the facts of this case are identified and once they are identified, they will be turned over to the Winnebago County district attorney."

Court records show Tucker previously was convicted of nearly three dozen nonviolent offenses dating back to 2008. In 2014, he was convicted of his only felony — forgery. Other convictions include nine for disorderly conduct, six for resisting an officer and two drunken driving offenses.

Wisconsin Department of Corrections records show Tucker was on supervision until December 2018.

Monday's shooting follows two other shooting incidents in Oshkosh in the week prior. On Thursday, a 24-year-old man was shot in the back on Hobbs Avenue on the city's north side. Days before, on July 23, police responded to a handful of shots on the 500 block of Boyd Street, though no one was injured in that incident.

Friends remember 'Zay'

Oshkosh residents Amy Blue and Heidi Blue said they have been friends with Tucker for about seven years and met him in high school, though they hadn't seen him recently.

Referring to him as Zay Blue, they described him as a caring, outgoing person who gave the best hugs and treated people like family. He was always smiling and easy to get along with.

"If you're friends with our family, you are our family," Blue said, adding the two are also friends with some of Tucker's brothers.

Blue said she felt frustrated when she learned Tucker was killed. She questioned why a use-of-force was necessary and said the situation could have been handled differently, though she acknowledged that not all of the information about the incident has been released.

Tucker was a father to young children, they added.

Adam Leib, of Oshkosh, went to school with Tucker at Lourdes High School and said they became friends through playing sports, becoming even closer when Tucker dated Leib's sister for a couple years.

Leib shared that anytime he felt upset about something, Tucker would be one of the first people there for him to talk about it. He had a way of making people smile and laugh.

"Isaiah always had a good heart and good intentions," Leib said. "He always went out of his way to help people."

In a statement to reporters after Monday's news conference, Tracey Robertson, executive director of Fit Oshkosh, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting social change and racial equity, expressed confidence in the police chief and said the group has been working with the Oshkosh Police Department for a couple of years.

Tucker is black.

Oshkosh police have participated in racial literacy training with the organization, Robertson said, noting there is still progress to make and that such training itself is not a flu shot for cultural competence.

While Fit Oshkosh has been proactive about starting a conversation about race in the Oshkosh community, there are still real concerns and historical trauma within the black community, Robertson said.

“We all feel that pain,” she said.

A neighborhood reacts

Newcomers and longtime residents of the neighborhood say this incident is shocking.

Britany Wood moved her two children from Bowen Street to the 600 block of Rugby Street about a year ago. It's an improvement. Crime is hardly a worry here, she said, as her 2-year-old daughter Hailie splashed in a kiddie pool in the yard.

Likewise, Cindy Baehman, owner of Leroy's Bar, 701 Knapp St., called the incident a fluke in an otherwise safe neighborhood. She and her patrons were waiting like everyone else for more information on the shooting Monday morning.

"I can understand (the police) would want to get their ducks in a row," she said. "You've got to give (the officer) the benefit of the doubt."

Tracy Smith, who lives nearby, said she went to bed about 1 a.m. Monday and woke up a little while later to flashing lights outside her house but went back to sleep. She did not hear any gun shots, she said.

The neighborhood comprises mostly working-class families and older residents, with a few young families, Tracy Smith said. She described it as quiet and friendly — not necessarily tight-knit, but a blue-collar, white-picket-fence neighborhood whose residents know each other and keep an eye on each other's houses when out of town.

In the 16 years she's lived there, the only time she's seen police is for routine traffic stops and a car crash, Tracy Smith said. She was surprised to learn there was a police shooting but not overly concerned.

"It can happen anywhere at anytime," she said.

Nathaniel Shuda: 920-426-6632 or nshuda@thenorthwestern.com. Noell Dickmann: 920-426-6658 or ndickmann@thenorthwestern.com. Nate Beck: 920-858-9657 or nbeck@gannett.com.