Officer-involved shootings

Four shootings involving Milwaukee police occurred in less than two weeks:

May 30: An officer on an unrelated call encounters an apparent gun battle in an alley in the 900 block of W. Orchard St. about 11 p.m. He sees a person with a gun in his hand and fires. Several people flee. The Milwaukee County district attorney’s office is reviewing the case.

June 1: Two officers patrolling in the 2600 block of N. 39th St. just before 11 p.m. notice two men. One of them walked as if he was carrying a gun and with his hand on his waistband. The man wouldn’t stop, so the officer uses a Taser to stop him. The man pulls out a gun and shoots. The officer fires back and pursues the man. The man is shot multiple times. He has been charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The officer was cleared.

June 5: Officer is called to a home in the 3000 block of N. 37th St. for domestic trouble. When he arrives about 9:35 p.m., a man approaches him with a steak knife. The man eventually drops the knife but later lunges at the officer. The officer fires his gun, critically injuring the man. The man has been charged with disorderly conduct, domestic abuse, use of a dangerous weapon and obstructing or resisting an officer. The officer was cleared.

June 11: A female detective is investigating reports of car break-ins just before 11 p.m. when three patrons leave the Mil Town Bar in the 5200 block of W. Hampton Ave. A security guard attempts to stop them from leaving with open alcohol containers. The detective intervenes. One man makes “unkind” comments about police and comes toward her with something in his hand. The detective tells the man to stop. When he doesn’t, she shoots. He was transported to the hospital and is in critical condition. The DA is still reviewing the case.

A woman was charged Tuesday in the stabbing death of her longtime boyfriend Thursday on Milwaukee’s north side.

Bobbie J. Moore, 28, told police that she went to the kitchen of a north side Milwaukee duplex, grabbed a knife and stabbed Shelton D. Atterberry, 36, at her home in the 2800 block of W. Meinecke Ave., according to a criminal complaint.

The two had been fighting over their relationship, Moore told police. The day before Atterberry was killed, Moore had told him to move out of the house.

Moore told police that when Atterberry arrived at her home Thursday morning, he had broken her television and her computer, according to the complaint. She said she stabbed Atterberry after he started hitting her.

A mailbox was damaged in the 8800 block of West Travis Lane prior to 8:04 a.m. June 7.

At least six mailboxes in the 10000 to 105000 blocks of West St. Martins Road were damaged prior to 4:48 a.m. June 11.

A 36-year-old man was stabbed in the 2800 block of W. Meinecke Ave. A 38-year-old woman is in custody. The incident is believed to be domestic-violence related, police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said.

MADISON – A Wisconsin Department of Corrections spokeswoman says authorities including Milwaukee Police are spending Monday searching for an inmate who has escaped a minimum security center in Northern Wisconsin.

Law enforcement officers are trying to find and arrest Mario Beltran, 24, who escaped from the Flambeau Correctional Center in Hawkins, Wis., at about 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

“We were conducting a head count late last night when one of the sergeants at Flambeau Correctional Center found this offender missing, and he could not be located at that point,” DOC spokeswoman Linda Eggert told Newsradio 620 WTMJ.

“Our staff at one of our correctional centers, which is a minimum security facility in northern Wisconsin, is working closely with any police officers from Milwaukee PD who are aware of this escape and trying to locate this offender at soon as possible.”

She also said that a warrant for his arrest was issued, while Sawyer County Sheriff’s department officials were also notified.

According to Eggert, the Milwaukee Police gang task force are working closely with a captain at the correctional center.

A police report Monday morning said he may have been with a prison visitor, Rachael Lass of West Allis.

They may be driving a red Toyota with Illinois license plate N442-431.

Beltran was placed in prison on two previous convictions.

“We’re working diligently with law enforcement to make sure this offender is apprehended as quickly as possible,” said Eggert. “Public safety is always the number one concern when something like this occurs.”

Fewer security levels at minimum security centers

Eggert explained that while most prison facilities have higher levels of security, Flambeau is not among them.

“We have maximum and medium security facilities that have the armed guard towers, permanent fences, locked doors and all kinds of security measures that people have come to know about the regular prison system. We also have numerous facilities that come at the end of a offender’s say, prison term, to prepare them for entry into the community. Those are called minimum security centers,” said Eggert.

“Flambeau Correctional Center is one of those minimum security centers. It basically works with the inmates prior to their release, sort of on their last step of preparation before release.”

26 year-old Matthew Young is recovering at Froedert Hospital after he was shot in the face by a Milwaukee Police Detective Saturday night..

Police say a 31 year-old detective was talking with a security guard at Mil Town Bar when three men walked out of the bar with open cans of beer.

The detective told the men to take the beer back into the bar, and police say one of the men lunged at the detective with something in his hand. That’s when police say she shot Young.

“There’s a question in terms of whether or not this individual was armed? That is the question, “ said neighbor Ansar Waajada.

Police aren’t saying for sure if Young was armed. Sources tell TODAY’S TMJ4 that after Young was shot, police saw Young’s brother lean over him, and pull something out of his pocket.

Police searched Young’s home and found a gun, ammunition, and a bullet proof vest.

Neighbors say they don’t think Young was armed, and that the detective shouldn’t have shot him.

“If that person was that threatening, then you should have called for back-up. There are other options. You don’t have to straight go for your gun,” Waajada said.

Young’s family has hired an attorney.

The police chief was not available for an on-camera interview, but the detective has been put on administrative duty.

A mailbox was damaged in the 12000 block of Parkview Lane prior to 12:30 a.m. June 4.

Several mailboxes were damaged in the 11800 block of Parkview Lane prior to 1:40 p.m. June 4.

A 20-year-old man and four 19-year-old men were cited for destruction of property after they were seen striking a newspaper box with a baseball bat in the 8900 block of West Puetz Road at 9:34 p.m. June 6. Police are investigating whether the men have been involved with the damage to at least seven other damaged mailboxes in the same area recently. The baseball bat was confiscated.

A Milwaukee mother and daughter, 39 and 14, were arrested for theft at Kohl’s, 5650 N. Bayshore Drive, at 1 p.m. June 1. Both were seen taking clothing valued at $229 into a fitting room, the girl carrying an empty purse. They exited and the purse was full. They walked out of the store and the girl was stopped, but her mother kept walking until the girl called to her. The mother admitted the theft saying she knew only two ways to make money: “Turn tricks or steal” and she didn’t want to turn tricks. One of the reasons she gave for stealing was to pay a citation she had for stealing. She also admitted she was showing her daughter how to steal and did not appear remorseful.

Bayside
Phone books were put into five newspaper boxes and set on fire destroying the boxes in the 8000 block of North 62nd Street and the 8200 block of North 61st Street on May 13 or 14. One resident reported finding the box on fire at 10 p.m. May 13.

South Milwaukee
Twenty-four large banners hung on the outfield fence of three Little League diamonds at 701 Mackinac Avenue were deliberately cut in half, resulting in $3,000 damage, between May 19 and May 20. Police questioned a neighbor who previously complained about the noise emanating from the ballpark, but the man denied involvement
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Several vehicles had screws put into their tires in the 4300 block of West Howard Avenue prior to 4:44 p.m. May 14.

Two teen brothers are under arrest for crashing their parents’ pickup truck into the Milwaukee Police Department’s District 3 building early Sunday, police said.

The teens went out for a joy ride in their parents’ truck without permission, Lt. Donald Baral said.

The brothers were driving north on 49th St. near the intersection of North and Lisbon avenues around 2:40 a.m. when the driver lost control of the vehicle. He drove up the sidewalk, took a left and hit two city-owned light poles and crashed into the east side of the District 3 building at 2333 N. 49th St.

The driver wasn’t hurt, but the passenger was slightly injured and taken to the hospital, Baral said.

The driver had an instructional driving permit, and police suspect he was under the influence of drugs, Baral said. Both brothers were arrested.

The truck was a total loss, and the building sustained some damage.

“The building looked like Superman with the strength of a thumb pushed a little dimple into it,” Baral said.

The brothers have previously done something similar but without serious consequences, so their parents support charging the teens, he said.