First responders work on a man shot in Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee. Credit: Gary Porter

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A veteran Milwaukee police officer on foot patrol shot and killed a man Wednesday afternoon after a struggle in Red Arrow Park downtown, just across from City Hall.

Police Chief Edward Flynn said the 38-year-old officer, a 13-year veteran of the department, had been dispatched to the park about 3:30 p.m. after a call involving the suspect.

When he arrived, the suspect was lying on the ground near the park, Flynn said at a news conference outside City Hall.

Flynn said the officer helped the suspect to his feet and began to speak with him. As the officer began patting the man down, a struggle ensued. The officer withdrew his wooden baton and began to defend himself, Flynn said. During the struggle, the man took the baton from the officer and began to beat the officer in the head.

"The officer withdrew his sidearm and fired several shots at the individual, striking him numerous times and ultimately causing his death," Flynn said.

Flynn said he did not know how many of the shots struck the man. An autopsy has been scheduled.

Eyewitnesses, including a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter, said they heard at least five shots fired. Flynn said it could have been as many as 10 shots.

Mayor Tom Barrett, who was in a sixth-floor meeting room on the south end of City Hall, said he believed he heard at least five gunshots.

The officer used a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson gun in the shooting, which occurred near a temporary Starbucks trailer within sight of moving traffic on N. Water St. and Kilbourn Ave. and as people walked along sidewalks.

Shortly after the burst of gunfire, people scurried for cover, some behind cars and some underneath the canopy that surrounds the sidewalk around City Hall.

The officer, whom police did not name, was taken to Froedtert Hospital for head injuries but was later released. The man, who has not been identified, died at the scene. The baton was found underneath his body.

New law on inquiries

The shooting occurred a week after Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill into law that requires an outside investigation when people die in police custody. Barrett said Wednesday's shooting will be the first time the law will be put into play.

The new law requires a team of at least two investigators from an outside agency to lead reviews of such deaths. It requires reports of custody death investigations throughout the state to be publicly released if criminal charges are not filed against the officers involved.

Officers also must inform victims' families of their options to pursue additional reviews via the U.S. attorney's office or a state-level John Doe investigation, which allows prosecutors to compel witnesses to testify and produce documents and bar them from speaking publicly about the case.

Looking for video

The state Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation will lead the probe. Members of that agency were on the scene, Flynn said, as were District Attorney John Chisholm, members of Flynn's command staff and Mike Tobin of the city's Fire and Police Commission.

"We continue to interview eyewitnesses and process the crime scene," Flynn said. "DCI people are with us observing, making suggestions."

Although the law is new, Flynn said its provisions are not burdensome. He said the Milwaukee Police Department has cooperated with DCI in the past on other cases.

Flynn said investigators would continue to canvass City Hall, nearby office buildings and other offices to locate eyewitnesses. Police also are looking for possible video that may have captured the struggle.

Ald. Robert Bauman, who was in his second-floor office that overlooks the park, said he heard gunshots and looked out the window.

"I saw the officer apparently discharging his weapon. The victim was faltering and stumbling," he said. "I saw the officer on the radio. There was about a two-minute lag and then cavalry arrived."

Bauman said that after the shooting, he saw the officer who fired down on one knee, looking distraught.

Barrett said the shooting was a rare incident downtown, which he called "extremely, extremely safe."

The case was the second fatal officer-involved shooting in downtown Milwaukee in the past six months. In November, a 17-year-old boy armed with a gun was fatally shot by officers inside the Downtown Transit Center after an apparent attempted robbery.

Hearing gunshots

Wally Lecocq was working in his office at the Milwaukee Center across the street when he heard four to five gunshots in rapid succession.

"That's what caught my attention. They were real quick. The police got here really quickly, like in a minute or two," said Lecocq as he watched investigators rope off Water St. and Kilbourn Ave. across from the shooting.

A matinee of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater's "History of Invulnerability" was letting out as the shooting unfolded.

Several theater-goers couldn't get to their vehicles that were parked within the crime scene. Two women who declined to give their full names said they smelled gunpowder when they walked out of the theater. They were waiting on Water St. across from the shooting scene for police to allow them to get to their car.

Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.