Racine officer shoots, kills man
Police: Armed man fled traffic stop; incident captured by bodycam
A Racine police officer shot and killed a man during a traffic stop, the city’s police chief said.
Racine Mayor Cory Mason and Police Chief Maurice Robinson spoke to the media at a briefing in City Hall Friday night, where they provided few details and didn’t answer questions about the officer-involved shooting.
Robinson said the man “took an action” while being chased that resulted in him being shot, but didn’t clarify what that was.
According to Robinson, Racine police have been executing search warrants on vehicles and individuals due to a rise in gun violence in the city. A Racine police officer executed a traffic stop on 12th and Schiller streets shortly after 1 p.m. Friday on a vehicle to conduct a search warrant.
The man in the vehicle fled from the car on foot, armed with a handgun, according to police. The officer gave chase and ordered the man to drop to the ground.
“The armed man refused all commands and took an action that resulted in the pursuing officer discharging his service weapon …,” Robinson said. “The man did not survive the encounter.”
Robinson said the incident was captured on body-worn camera.
Shortly after the gunfire, officers were seen performing CPR on a man in a grass-covered lot, as shown in multiple live videos posted to Facebook.
In one of the videos, the man was placed on a stretcher and a Racine Fire Department ambulance took the man away.
Emergency radio traffic, provided by Broadcastify, reveals some details:
At approximately 1:03 p.m., Racine County sheriff ’s dispatch broadcasted to all squads on duty, “Officer safety, RAPD is calling out 800 block of 12th Street, possible shots fired at an officer. Again, just officer safety at this time for anybody in the area.”
At about 1:05 p.m., Racine paramedics were dispatched to Carrol and Center streets, “PD is already on scene; this will be for a patient with a gunshot wound.” A second medical unit was headed to the area because fire dispatchers were unsure how many people were shot.
A fire/EMS dispatcher radioed: “Dispatch to units responding to Carrol and Center Street, just be advised they are calling in other jurisdictions to handle the crowd at Carrol and Center Street.”
Upon arrival, paramedics radioed to dispatch, “There is only one victim shot.” The other medical unit was sent back home. Shortly after that, paramedics radioed that it was “en route to All Saints.” Ascension All Saints Hospital is in Racine.
At 1:11 p.m., a Racine County sheriff’s command officer radioed that all deputies would be “held over” until further notice, meaning they had to stay on duty beyond the scheduled end of their shifts.
Shortly after that, a dispatcher radioed, “They are looking for an assist. Do you want to advise how many you want to send? They are looking for crowd control.”
Racine County sheriff sent four deputies and told them to “gather your crowd control equipment and head down to the city,” and directed the deputies to Carrol and Center streets.
Robinson said the name of the man will not be released at this time because next of kin has not been notified. He also did not provide an age.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation and the Wisconsin State Patrol are investigating the incident.
The DOJ said in its news release that a firearm was recovered at the scene.
The officer has been placed on administrative leave, according to Robinson.