Police release body-cam video of fatal October shooting

Milwaukee police on Saturday released portions of body-cam video documenting officers’ fatal shooting of a suspect in October.

In the video, shot Oct. 10 outside an apartment building near North 101st Street and West Mill Road, police are shown responding to reports of shots fired in a parking lot.

As officers approached the suspect, later identified as 31-year-old Alonzo L. Smith, the body-cam video shows they repeatedly ordered Smith to “show his hands” and put them on the steering wheel of his car.

He appears to have ignored their commands and, at one point, fires at the officers.

The two officers fired at Smith, striking him in the head and the chest as he fled his car on foot, according to Homicide Division Capt. Joseph McLin, who narrates the video.

Smith was taken to a hospital where he died.

An investigation into the shooting is being led by Wauwatosa police. Additional body-cam video will be available after the investigation is complete, Milwaukee police said.

The video is the second involving a police shooting to be made public this week. The earlier video show police shooting what appears to be an unarmed man at close range on a rooftop last year.

In that footage, Jerry Smith Jr. appears to have spread his arms and fingers as officers approached with guns drawn the afternoon of Aug. 31, 2017, and appears to be getting on the ground as two officers shoot him from close range.

Smith survived but underwent several surgeries and will suffer permanent partial paralysis in his right leg, said Daniel Storm, a private investigator working on Smith’s federal civil rights lawsuit against the city. Storm provided the video to the Journal Sentinel.

A cellphone video, taken from another building, also appeared to show Smith was unarmed.

Milwaukee County Chief Deputy District Attorney Kent Lovern concluded in June that Officer Adam Stahl and Officer Melvin Finkley were justified in using deadly force because they believed Smith was armed or was reaching for a gun behind an air conditioning unit on the roof.

No gun was ever found. Smith, who has no criminal record, was not charged with any crime.