Press Release

Today the Milwaukee Police Department suffered the tragic loss of one of our officers. This loss of life was avoidable and only occurred because of the actions of one truly evil individual. This individual chose to fire several rounds at officers with complete disregard for their lives. He did not care about the consequences of his actions, including the immeasurable harm his actions would do to the officer’s family, colleagues, and friends. Not to mention the community as a whole. He chose to disregard the sanctity of human life, all in a vain, self-serving attempt to evade lawful arrest. As we now know, his choice directly caused his death, which is tragic but was 100% his own fault and avoidable.

Because of his selfish and needless actions, a father and mother will be burying their son, fellow officers will miss the laughter and joy the fallen officer brought to them, and the community suffers through another senseless loss of a dedicated public servant who wanted nothing more, from a young age, to do this job and help people. Left in the wake of this tragedy are countless more, to include his partner that day, who is now left with indescribable grief and guilt wondering if there was anything they could have done differently to save his life, even though we know there was not. The actions of one individual have now caused unimaginable pain to so many.

As we go through the next couple of weeks, we ask for your thoughts and prayers for the family, colleagues, and friends of our officers. We will look forward to celebrating the life of our fallen officer, making sure people know the story of his courageous and selfless act, and how he lived these acts out every day, not just on his last. We will ensure that the sacrifice that our officer made in so many people’s lives is never forgotten. Never.

Sincerely,

Andrew Wagner

President

Milwaukee Police Association

Local #21, IUPA

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