Columbus police cleared by Milwaukee DA in shooting of man near Republican convention

Yahoo

05-05-2025

The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office will not charge the five Columbus, Ohio, police officers involved in the shooting death of a Milwaukee man during the week of the Republican National Convention, an expected decision that still outrages his family.
"We expected the same decision to be used that has justified the actions of killer cops that have stolen the lives of thousands of Black people before Sam," said Angelique Sharpe, in reference to the DA's decision not to charge the officers in her brother Sam Sharpe Jr.'s death.
Angelique said the country's record of failing to find officers guilty in addition to state statutes cited by District Attorney Kevin Lovern during a meeting April 8 with her and local activists kept their expectations low prior to Lovern making his decision public nearly a month later.
"He at least let us share out sentiments, even though our sentiments had no bearing on the decision that was made regarding his death," Angelique told the Journal Sentinel.
Sam Sharpe, 43, was shot and killed July 16 by the five officers, who were part of a bicycle patrol unit, who were among to assist in policing the four-day political event. The officers had biked to an area by two tent encampments near West Vliet and North 14th streets, roughly a mile from the RNC's secure perimeter, to debrief.
The situation unfolded rapidly, with 15 seconds passing from when officers first noticed Sharpe was armed with a knife and moving toward another man to when they fired shots.
Sam was shot 23 times by the five officers, with 34 entry and exit wounds on his body, according to his sister who was given access to crime scene photos, videos and reports, most of which have yet to be made public.
"He had gunshot wounds from head to toe, on the front and back of his body," Angelique told the Journal Sentinel.
The evidence suggested the Columbus officers had "reasonable concern for the safety" of the other man, rendering the shooting legal, according to Lovern's letter outlining the decision to not charge officers. The letter was sent to Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant.
"The five officers who fired shots at Sharpe indicated they did so out of concern that (the other man) would be seriously harmed or killed by Sharpe," Lovern's four-page letter said. "The officers' use of force, under the circumstances presented to them at the time, was permissible under Wisconsin law in order to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm."
Nicholas Mason, Adam Groves, Austin Enos, Canaan Dick and Karl Eiginger were the five officers with the Columbus Police Department who shot and killed Sharpe. Fourteen Columbus officers responded in total, according to Lovern's letter.
Two of the five police officers who fired their guns — Mason and Groves — have previously been investigated for uses of force.
Mason, who has been with the department since 2007, was cleared of criminal wrongdoing after fatally shooting a driver who accelerated during a traffic stop and dragged Mason along the car in 2017, the Columbus Dispatch first reported.
Groves was one of six officers sued in 2016 on allegations of wrongful arrest and excessive use of force, which resulted in a settlement of $45,000 in 2020, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
'Criminal charges are a unicorn when it comes to these kinds of charges,' said Alan Chavoya, a member of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression who attended the meeting with Lovern. 'We try to temper our expectations.'
Following the meeting with Lovern earlier this month, Angelique and three members of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression expressed concern that protocols have yet to be put in place to prevent something similar from happening if another large event is held in Milwaukee that requires out-of-state police officers.
In the case of the RNC, the five Ohio officers were among 4,000 non-Milwaukee law enforcement officers who arrived in Milwaukee to assist in security, traffic and public safety.
When the city won the bid to host the event, activists immediately raised questions about policing.
Milwaukee police officials said they did not intend to use outside officers for "forward-facing" roles, and they wanted Milwaukee officers to be the ones interacting with local residents. The agreements signed by the outside agencies reflected those goals, too.
The officers involved in Sam's death were part of a bicycle patrol unit, which were not considered 'forward-facing,' the department later acknowledged. Consequently, there were no MPD officers accompanying their unit.
In September, two months after Sam's death, Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman met with the Milwaukee Common Council's Steering and Rules Committee. Committee members had questions.
Norman subsequently took responsibility for local officers not accompanying out-of-state police during the Republican National Convention.
Lo Cross, also a member of the alliance, said city officials, not just activists, had questions concerning the mutual aid agreements that were put in place with out-of-state police departments.
'I am still hearing concerns over how we can prevent this from happening again,' Cross said.
Ten months prior to his death, Sharpe decided to live among other people in the community without permanent housing.
Robert Camacho, a street pastor who ministers to roughly 4,500 of the city's men and women who call the streets home, told the Journal Sentinel in the days following Sam's death that Sam chose to live among the homeless to spread the message of God.
He didn't want them to feel hopeless, Camacho said.
Because of his religious beliefs, he always carried a Bible. He was known by most not as Sam, but as Jehovah, a name he had tattooed on his chest.
Angelique said her brother had multiple sclerosis, a degenerative muscle disease that impacted his mobility. She said if police had known that, they would have known he was stumbling, not lunging forward in an attempt to stab anyone.
Angelique points to the knives her brother was holding. They were not butcher knives, she said, but more like paring knives that you would use to eat or open cans.
"If I was planning to kill someone with a knife, I'm going to make sure I get knives that are guaranteed to do the job," she said.
She said the man her brother was fighting with was a known instigator in the encampment, who had threatened to kill her brother's dog, Ices, and had stole his phone earlier that morning.
"This isn't over," Angelique Sharpe said. "We will still seek justice for Sam."
Jessica Van Egeren is a general assignment reporter and assistant breaking news editor with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She can be reached at [e-mail].
David Clarey is a public safety reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He contributed reporting to this story.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ohio police in Republican National Convention shooting of man cleared