Multiple sources tell Wisconsin Right Now that an off-duty Milwaukee police officer was shot downtown while off duty. The officer, a detective, was trying to stop a carjacking, sources say.
At 3 p.m., we heard Milwaukee police were pursuing a possible suspect vehicle, which was traveling more than 90 miles per hour near Vliet Street. We heard the suspect was in a vehicle stolen recently in Menomonee Falls, and that the high-speed pursuit may have turned into a foot chase. Two suspects are in custody, we were told at 3:10 p.m. A third fled on foot and is being sought.
We are hearing the shooting occurred at Water and Buffalo streets on January 13, 2022 in the city’s Third Ward. The details are still coming in. We have the detective’s name, but we aren’t printing it without official MPD release because family may not be notified. He was taken to Froedtert hospital.
One of our sources said that, preliminarily, the suspect might have been involved in a carjacking downtown when the officer intervened and was shot. The officer is awake and breathing, but the officer’s condition is not clear. We heard he was shot twice in the stomach. All of this information is preliminary as the story was just breaking. We also heard that the officer is an MPD detective who intervened in an armed robbery.
Cops and ATF everywhere in the @ThirdWardMKE right now – anyone know what the heck is going on? At least 50 cops – police tape everywhere. #milwaukee pic.twitter.com/uSIM3vASgO
— Tim Vertz (@TimVertzWI) January 13, 2022
It’s not clear whether the suspect is in custody.
USFIR, a site that monitors scanner traffic, confirmed what our sources told us, and wrote on Twitter, “Milwaukee WI – N Water / W Buffalo – Off Duty police officer shot multiple times, conscious and breathing #Milwaukee #Shooting #OfficerDown #USFiR.”
We’ve written many stories about shootings along Water Street and how dangerous that street became, especially during the summer. See our Water Street coverage here.
The Third Ward is an area of Milwaukee that had undergone a renaissance and is a popular area for lunch crowds.
