Chief Flynn discusses two weekend officer-involved shooting incidents

MILWAUKEE -- Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn spoke out Monday afternoon, November 26th after officer-involved weekend shooting incidents. The first occurred Saturday afternoon on Milwaukee's south side, when an officer fatally shot a robbery suspect. The second occurred Sunday evening, near 18th and Locust, when an officer shot at a 14-year-old who was reportedly pointing a toy gun.

In Saturday's incident, police say Kleinmann and another man, whom he knew, met behind a building at 17th and Layton just before 4 p.m. to conduct a business transaction, as they had done in the past. This time, the other man told police Kleinmann brought a gun and robbed him when he showed up for the transaction.

Kleinmann fled the scene in his vehicle and the robbery victim followed him, calling police on the phone and relaying vehicle information to the dispatcher.

Lisa Seefeldt, who works at the Mobil Station at the corner of Howell and Howard saw a man in the station's parking lot.

“There was a guy. I think his car is still in the lot, and he called police from his cell phone. The next thing you know there are like 20 cop cars flying down the street," Seefeldt told FOX 6 News.

As Kleinmann was fleeing, he crashed the vehicle and ran from the scene.

At that moment, Aron Gilbert was driving westbound on Howard. He quickly became involved in a harrowing scene.

“The guy that was getting chased turned around and started going towards the police officer with a gun in his hand and I’m pretty sure he shot first. And then the officer just shot him five times. Four or five times, I’m not exactly, it happened so fast. It was just boom boom boom boom," Gilbert told FOX 6 News.

A Milwaukee police officer, who was in a marked vehicle and in uniform, attempted to conduct a field interview of Kleinmann. During the encounter near 1st and Howard, officials say the officer had reason to believe his life was in danger and he discharged his weapon, striking Kleinmann. Kleinmann died from his injuries, and no weapon was found.

“Just seeing something like that kind of freaks you out, you know. You don’t really think that’s going to happen that close to you. You know, I’ve never seen anything like that before. My heart was definitely racing," Gilbert said.

Matt Nowak and his girlfriend heard shots from his apartment nearby, and headed out towards the scene.

"I saw a police officer doing CPR on a guy that was laid out in the street. Then there was another police officer that was on the corner looking like he wasn't doing too good. Obviously the guy who shot the guy was kind of distressed looking," Nowak said.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office confirms Kleinmann was a Huber inmate of the Washington County Jail.

Kleinmann was first booked into the Jail on November 8th on a hold and remained in jail on that status until November 16th when he began serving an eight month sentence for Identity Theft.  That sentence included the possibility of daily Huber release.

On November 19th, consistent with jail policy, Kleinmann was released under the Huber Law for a dentist appointment.  Kleinmann did not return to the jail by his scheduled time and an Attempt-to-Locate was entered.

On November 20th, a formal Request for Charge of Escape was completed and a Temporary Felony Warrant was entered for him.  It is believed Kleinmann did not attend the Dentist appointment and his whereabouts were unknown until his death — according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

The officer has been identified as 39-year-old Shawn Pecoraro. He has 15 years of service at MPD. He is assigned to the Neighborhood Policing Bureau. Officer Pecoraro was placed on administrative duty -- which is standard procedure.

The Milwaukee Police Department is reviewing the incident along with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office.

In the second incident, Milwaukee police responded to the area of 18th and Locus Sunday afternoon, November 25th. 

FOX6 News had a crew on the scene for much of the afternoon, and several streets in the area were blocked off, but it was not initially clear why officers were on the scene.

Later Sunday evening, a police spokeswoman said an MPD officer discharged his weapon during contact with a suspect, when that suspect pointed what turned out to be a toy gun.

Police say no one was struck, and the suspect was taken into custody.