MPD officer injured after deceased suspect's gun goes off after pursuit

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MILWUAKEE (CBS 58) -- A 36-year-old Milwaukee police officer was shot Friday afternoon by a dead man's gun on Milwaukee's north side.

That officer is now recovering in the hospital.


There are lot of moving parts to the story: a suspect ran from police while firing at officers, then shot and killed himself. But as police tried to stabilize the suspect an officer was shot by the suspect's gun.

Joe Knox said it's "Kinda strange for someone to be running from police and run in your house with a gun trying to hide out. So it's a scary situation."

At midday Friday, Knox had just gotten back to his home on 11th Street just north of Keefe when a man he did not know kicked in his side door and ran inside.

"He said, 'well, I just got in a shootout with the police.' I said, 'Well you can't be up in here. You gotta get out of here,'" Knox said.

Milwaukee police said that 43-year-old suspect was wanted for a felony domestic abuse injunction.

Moments earlier the suspect had run from police, shooting at officers while officers fired back. No one was hit.

Then the suspect ran to Knox's house. When the suspect's gun jammed, Knox ran out the front door to get away, but arriving officers thought he was the suspect and cuffed him.

Knox said, "The policeman put me on the ground and placed me under arrest. They thought I was the guy shooting at police. What are you telling them as they're doing it? I'm telling them 'I'm not the person, I'm not him.' I said, 'He's in my backyard.'"

In the backyard the suspect shot himself in the head.

Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said it was fatal.

But as officers stabilized the suspect with a tactical ballistic shield, the suspect's gun still went off inadvertently, hitting a nearby officer.

We tried to clarify with Chief Norman whether the suspect was already dead when the gun went off, or if the suspect was alive and may have fired intentionally.

Chief Norman said, "We don't know at this time. It's still being investigated. We know the Medical Examiner's office is here. We're going to be working in tandem with them to figure out the dynamics of how that firearm went off."

We connected with the suspect's family Friday evening. They said he suffered from serious mental health issues.

His sister Annesha Adams said, "He was at his breaking point. Everybody has a breaking point. And I guess this was his breaking point where he decided he couldn't take it anymore."

The sisters said he had no prior problems with police but recently was feeling the weight of several issues in his personal life.

Another sister, Alexis Adams, said, "When people are already going through stuff, enough is enough. Some people can't take it. Everybody is not strong."

Chief Norman said the 36-year-old injured officer is believed to be stable and in good spirits at the hospital.

The Milwaukee Police Department homicide investigation division will handle the investigation.

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