The Milwaukee police chief defended a decision to confront and then shoot an armed man last week in the halls of the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in suburban Wauwautosa.
Shortly before noon on Nov. 14, Milwaukee police responded to a tip regarding a man wanted on a felony warrant and “known to carry a firearm.”
When officers found him, the 22-year-old man was allegedly holding a baby and then brandished a semi-automatic pistol while fleeing down a hallway of the neonatal unit. Police shot him twice in the arm, causing him to drop the gun. The 296-bed hospital was placed on lockdown for two hours during the incident.
When asked whether it would have been safer if the officers had waited for the suspect to leave the hospital before confronting him, Police Chief Edward Flynn said it was his officers' “moral obligation” to investigate the report. “The challenge is, what if he decides not to come out? What if it turns out there's a domestic violence circumstance going on? What if it turns out he doesn't want to let go of the baby?”
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