The family of a man fatally shot in Milwaukee this week by Ohio police officers assisting with Republican National Convention security said he was defending himself when he was killed.
Local activists joined Samuel Sharpe Jr.’s family in Red Arrow Park, just blocks from Fiserv Forum, where the RNC will conclude after Donald Trump accepts the party’s presidential nomination in a speech Thursday evening.
They said Sharpe Jr., 43, was defending himself against a man who had been harassing and threatening him in the tent encampment on Milwaukee’s Near West Side when Columbus, Ohio police saw the altercation and fatally shot him.
“How do we know if the police killed the perpetrator or the victim here?” asked Sharpe Jr.’s sister Angelique Sharpe.
Thursday’s rally was held in memory of both Sharpe Jr. and 43-year-old D’Vontaye Mitchell, who died last month after being pinned down by security outside a Milwaukee hotel. Family members joined several dozen community members and activists in a march from the park to the hotel where Mitchell died.
The shooting of Sharpe Jr. happened Tuesday afternoon near 14th and Vliet streets — about seven blocks from where the RNC’s soft security perimeter ends — in an area that was part of the Columbus officers’ assigned zone.
The Milwaukee Police Department said out-of-state officers were intended to work in non-forward-facing assignments, while local police would interact directly with community members, protesters, and others.
“This ain’t y’all community,” Angelique Sharpe said. “I would rather have had Milwaukee Police Department, who know the people of this community, address this situation before people who have no ties to this community and don’t care nothing about our extended family members.”
Columbus police quickly released body-camera footage of the fatal shooting, showing officers rushing to an apparent altercation between two men—Sharpe Jr., who seemed to be holding a pair of knives, and an unarmed man. After repeatedly ordering Sharpe Jr. to drop his weapons, officers opened fire as Sharpe Jr. stepped toward the other man, according to the video.
Sharpe Jr.’s family claimed the unarmed man had previously threatened to kill him, and that Sharpe Jr. had reported this to local police, but no action was taken. They also mentioned that Sharpe Jr. had a limp and medical issues affecting his gait, asserting he was trying to regain his balance, not lunging at the other man.
At the time of the shooting, the Columbus officers were not responding to a service call—typically handled by the MPD—but had observed the altercation and attempted to intervene.
The officers, who were part of a bike team, were undergoing a daily briefing on protest events just before the shooting. Following the incident, the MPD began assigning a Milwaukee officer to specialty units and all forward-facing roles.
Milwaukee police confirmed that the Columbus officers involved in the shooting are no longer working RNC security.
Chicago police officials stated that all outside agency officers coming to the city for the Democratic National Convention next month will work strictly within the security perimeters around the United Center and McCormick Place. Only CPD officers will operate outside those zones.
“The districts themselves are going to be all Chicago police,” CPD Deputy Chief Duane DeVries told WTTW News in Milwaukee Wednesday. “We’re not asking any outside resources to patrol the city of Chicago. There will be supervision from Chicago—not because we’re watching them or have to supervise them—but just so we can get them from point A to point B logistically.”
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling stated this week that having outside police assist with the DNC will allow his officers to work elsewhere in the city during the convention.
“We also have to protect neighborhoods during that time,” Snelling said during a Monday news conference. “So this will help us free up our Chicago police officers to make sure they’re available to respond to any crimes happening outside of the DNC footprint.”