Police officers in Milwaukee shot and killed a man near the site of the Republican national convention on Tuesday, authorities and local news outlets said.
Security arrangements for the convention have come under the microscope since Saturday, when Donald Trump, the former president and Republican nominee for president in November’s election, was the subject of an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.
The officers involved in Tuesday’s shooting were from Columbus, Ohio, a police union statement said, adding that no officers were injured. Officers said they saw the man brandish a knife while patrolling the area and fired at him after he turned toward them, according to the New York Times.
Neighbors said the person killed was a regular at a homeless encampment in the neighborhood. It is not clear whether the man had any connection to the convention, or any plans to go closer.
“Milwaukee has blood on its hands,” said Ryan Clancy, a state representative from Milwaukee. “This is not near the RNC. The police should not be here.”
About 4,000 officers from other states and cities are in Wisconsin for the convention. Columbus, Ohio, provided a “police dialogue team” to work on demonstrations.
“I was shocked,” said Sonia, a resident of the apartment complex adjacent to the site of the shooting, who spoke to the Guardian but asked to be referred to by her first name for privacy. “The police let people in the area know before the [convention] we wouldn’t have to deal with out-of-town law enforcement, but here you go.”
Citing law enforcement sources, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said the shooting happened near North 14th and West Vliet Streets, about a mile outside the Republican national convention security perimeter.
In Milwaukee, news outlets reported a large police presence at the scene of the shooting. WISN 12 News, a local ABC affiliate TV station, said witnesses described a fight between two men in the King Park neighbourhood, and said police shot dead one of the men, who was carrying a knife.
Linda Sharpe, who identified herself as the cousin of the man who was killed, said she wanted some answers. “He had a dog, he loved people and he loved animals,” she said.
