Milwaukee Police on Monday released dashcam video showing a deadly shoot-out between an off-duty officer and a male who pistol-whipped him just prior to the shoot-out.
Police said the officer was involved in a minor car accident in the 4800 block of West Mill Road while on his way to work just before 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
Police said video of the incident was released to the public ‘in the interest of transparency.’
Both drivers pulled over and exited their cars, police said, adding that as they were assessing the accident, the other driver approached the off-duty officer, pulled a gun, and struck the off-duty officer in the face with it.
Image source: Milwaukee Police dashcam video screenshot
The off-duty officer drew his department-issued firearm, police said, adding that they exchanged gunfire, and the 26-year-old male who struck the off-duty officer was shot and pronounced dead at the scene.
While no one else was struck by gunfire, police said the off-duty officer was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries as a result of the incident.
Police said the off-duty officer is a 40-year-old male with over 21 years of service and was placed on administrative duty, as is routine in officer-involved shooting investigations.
Police said the Milwaukee Area Investigative Team is investigating the incident, and the West Allis Police Department is the leading agency.
Police said video of the incident was released to the public “in the interest of transparency,” after regulations requiring police to give next of kin a chance to view relevant video within 48 hours of the incident and regulations requiring police to release relevant video within 15 days of a critical incident were met.
What’s more, WISN-TV reported that the family of Elijah Wilks — the fatally shot male — wanted the video released early and called the shooting justified, as they believe the clip shows everything that occurred.
WISN added that the release of the video came after grainy surveillance video was posted on social media over the weekend.
Attorney B’Ivory LaMarr, who represents the family, told the station that “Elijah pulls out a firearm with his right hand, and … he’s essentially swinging it in the direction of the off-duty officer. One time. It’s almost like a punch is what actually transpired.”
Last Thursday, a neighbor said police pulled a 10mm bullet from his living room wall, WISN noted, adding that video indicates Wilks was facing that direction. Milwaukee police noted to the station that they don’t have 10mm service weapons.
“What this family has done is made the difficult decision, while they’re grieving, to put aside their privacy, put aside their grieving, to allow again the opportunity for accountability to actually exist where the public can see what they saw,” LaMarr added to WISN. “And just try to move past the situation and heal this city.”
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