Officer fatally shot while serving warrant in Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE — A 17-year police veteran was shot and killed as he served a warrant on the Milwaukee’s south side Wednesday, police officials said.

Assistant Milwaukee Police Chief Michael Brunson said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon that the officer was 35 years old. The officer’s name has not been released.

Brunson said the officer who died was “well beloved by everyone in the department.”

The officer was part of a Tactical Enforcement Unit serving the warrant in a residential neighborhood on the city’s south side when the officers made contact with two subjects “and shots were fired,” Brunson said. Brunson didn’t release details of the warrant being served.

One officer was struck and was rushed to Froedtert Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

A 26-year-old Milwaukee man was in custody, Brunson said. He provided no other details.

Mayor Tom Barrett told reporters that the officer was the city’s third killed in the line of duty in eight months.

“I am filled with sorrow over this needless loss and at the same time I am filled with anger at the individual who took the life of this police officer,” Barrett said.

Numerous officers gathered at the hospital and Milwaukee police were planning a procession from the hospital to the medical examiner’s office downtown.

Six months ago, Officer Michael Michalski was fatally shot while trying to arrest a convicted felon wanted on drug and domestic violence offenses.