Facebook photo of workers brandishing guns at Milwaukee city work site draws protest

A photo showing three white, city-hired subcontractors brandishing guns while on a work site near N. 19th and W. Meinecke Ave. was shared on Facebook Monday.

The photo, which was shared and commented on hundreds of times on Facebook, showed two of the workers had holstered weapons on their belts, while a third had a gun in his hand. The photo angered people in the African-American community and three Milwaukee aldermen issued a news release Monday, calling the photo “appalling.”

Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton and Alds. Russell Stamper II and Milele Coggs said they were shocked and angered by the image.

“Behavior as dangerous and disrespectful as this is appalling and has no place in any neighborhood and by any city contractor, subcontractor or representative,” Stamper said.

"If this is a real, untouched photo I would like this individual and that crew removed immediately from the site and barred from any future city projects," Stamper said.

Earl Ingram Jr., of Resistance Radio 1510-AM (WRRD), talked about the photo on his show at 7 a.m. Monday. The workers are wearing Poblocki Paving protection gear, but a spokesman from Poblocki Paving called into Ingram’s show Monday morning and said these are not his workers.

On Facebook, the company also stated that this is not its job site or its workers.

"Our employees wear uniforms and are not allowed to wear blue jeans. We are an employee-owned company and our employees handbook specifies no weapons," the statement from Poblocki Paving says.

"We would never condone anything like this anywhere," the statement continues.

The Department of Public Works confirmed that this is a city project but the workers in the photo are not city employees.

"While investigating this matter, we find that American Sewer Services is the contractor for this project and that these three workers are employees of that company," the statement said.

“The way I see it, if they are so afraid to work in our community that they need to have a gun out like in the picture, then they don’t need to work in our community,” Ingram said. “It’s dangerous.”

Hamilton said the owner of the contracting company has been summoned to a Tuesday meeting with DPW Commissioner Ghassan Korban.

Company officials could not be reached for comment.

It is not clear when the photo was taken or who took the photo. Coggs said the photo is "a prime example of public input and information-sharing that can help us do our work,” she said.

The City of Milwaukee has a "zero tolerance policy" for firearms and dangerous weapons in the workplace and it prohibits employees from carrying or possessing a gun while acting in “the course and scope of their employment for and on behalf of the City of Milwaukee,” according to the Department of Employee Relations.

Journal Sentinel reporter Ashley Luthern contributed to this report.