Racine officials call for patience after fatal police shooting
Racine officials called for patience and respect Monday after a fatal police shooting last week prompted protests and marches.
Donte D. Shannon, 26, of Racine, was shot after fleeing on foot from a traffic stop, authorities have said.
The officers who ran after him — identified Monday as Chad Stillman and Peter Boeck — saw Shannon “brandish a firearm and responded with gunfire, striking him,” according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is leading the investigation.
Wisconsin law requires investigations of fatal officer-involved shootings to be led by outside agencies.
The officers had stopped Shannon’s car because it had no front license plate and chased him into a yard, officials said.
“I ask for your patience, I ask for your respect as the process moves forward,” Racine Police Chief Art Howell said Monday.
The officers were not injured and were placed on paid administrative leave. Stillman and Boech have worked for Racine police for 15 and 16 years, respectively.
Howell reiterated Monday that information about the investigation would come from the state Justice Department’s Division of Criminal Investigation.
He said he had been accessible to Shannon’s family, speaking with an immediate relative less than two hours after the shooting and following up again with them soon after. Howell also described his efforts in an op-ed published in the Racine Journal Times over the weekend.
During the news conference, which was streamed online, Mayor Cory Mason invited residents to a town hall session Monday evening to discuss the shooting and other issues facing Racine.
“This has been a challenging week for Racine,” Mason said. “There may be tough days ahead, but we will get through this. We will listen to one another, we will respect one another and move Racine forward together.”
After the news conference, Shannon’s family questioned the number of shots fired at Shannon — his father said he counted 17 graze and bullet wounds — and they wanted to know whether investigators had recovered the gun officers said Shannon had at the time, according to WITI-TV (Channel 6).