'Took out his gun and shot him in the head': Girlfriend who was in tow truck during chase, fatal shooting speaks out
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The man was identified as 35-year-old Jonathan Otto.
Otto's girlfriend was in the truck during the chase and was sitting next to Otto when he was shot and killed.
Her name is Emily; she declined to give her last name at this time. She explained what happened from her perspective.
"He was really scared. In the moment he was really scared."
When Otto came to their home Thursday morning, March 12, near 12th and Burnham on a break from work, she got in to talk.
MPD was investigating Otto for a parole violation. An officer walked up to the truck and told him to get out.
Otto didn't, he started the truck instead and took off. The officer clung to the side.
Emily said, "Johnathan isn't innocent, but this isn't for him to get shot or die."
Otto sped away for several blocks. The officer stayed on the truck.
"Johnathan didn't say a word," she said. "The officer, all he told him was, 'I'm going to f***ing kill you.' And took out his gun and shot him in the head."
Twice Emily said Otto slowed to a stop to let the officer jump off, but he didn't.
Near 15th and Grant, the officer shot Otto in the head.
Johnathan Otto died at the scene.
"It definitely didn't have to end like this. Definitely," Emily said.
MPD gave a briefing in the afternoon.
According to Chief Jeffrey Norman, the officer clung to the truck for several blocks, giving several commands to stop and informing Otto that he will be shot if he did not stop.
Police say Otto refused demands and the officer fired his gun, fatally shooting Otto.
Jonathan Otto
Milwaukee police said the officer who was holding onto the truck was also sent to a hospital with minor injuries.
Jonathan Otto's entire family was at the scene for hours, devastated. His mother said she needed to see where her son was last alive, hoping to make sense of it but she still can't.
Tracy Broyld says her son was a tow truck driver who loved his job and that he's been living with his girlfriend on the south side not far from where this happened.
She calls him an amazing person who was very close to his family and says while he did have prior convictions, he wasn't a violent person.
Broyld said she knew though that he would always run and that he had a history of arrests for fleeing and eluding officers.
But what she doesn't understand is how the situation escalated to him being killed.
"Why didn't he shoot...why didn't he jump off? Why did he shoot him in the head, that's what I want to know," said Broyld.
Otto's mother says she hasn't been allowed to see her son's body yet because of the nature of the investigation and was told his autopsy will be completed Friday.
The family will be able to view body camera footage of the incident within 48 hours per MPD policy.