Ohio officers shoot and kill man near Republican convention

Police investigators leave the scene where one person was shot and killed by police during the second day of the 2024 Republican National Convention,Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. The shooting occurred outside of the security perimeter for the Republican National Convention.
Police investigators leave the scene where one person was shot and killed by police during the second day of the 2024 Republican National Convention,Tuesday, July 16, 2024, in Milwaukee. The shooting occurred outside of the security perimeter for the Republican National Convention. | Alex Brandon

Visiting Columbus, Ohio, police officers shot and killed a man about a mile from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday, the Fraternal Order of Police Capital City Lodge 9 confirmed in a statement on Facebook.

The officers were on assignment in Milwaukee assisting local police in providing security during the convention as part of a group of nearly 4,500 law enforcement officers, The New York Times reported.

According to the Times, three or more officers on bicycles noticed the man walking in the King Park neighborhood carrying a knife. The officers fired their guns once the man turned to them with the knife.

The man had been living in a homeless encampment, according to Christina Kugler and Mark Walker, who live in the same camp according to the Times.

“He stays to himself,” Walker said.

Karen Domagalski, operations manager for the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, said an autopsy would be performed on Wednesday.

Though the shooting happened during the RNC, it didn’t occur within the event’s perimeters, so it was not considered to be connected to the convention and fell under the Milwaukee police’s jurisdiction, Alexi Worley, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Secret Service, said.

The shooting comes just days after an assassination attempt on Donald Trump and on the second day of the GOP convention, during which discussions about crime are expected to take center stage, Fox 8 reported.