Not guilty plea: Deron Berry-Williams charged in incident in which officer grazed by bullet

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Deron Berry-Williams waived his right to a preliminary hearing and entered a not guilty plea in court Monday, June 30th.

Berry-Williams is the Milwaukee man facing charges in connection with an incident that occurred Thursday, June 19th in which a Milwaukee police detective was grazed by a bullet. He faces two counts of first degree recklessly endangering safety — use of a dangerous weapon — felony charges.

It happened near Teutonia and Villard, just after 2:00 p.m. last Thursday.

21-year-old Berry-Williams was considered by police to be a person of interest in connection with the gas station homicide of Bryson Brown, which occurred on June 17th. Berry-Williams told police he was with the homicide suspect — 25-year-old Demario Easley at the time of the fatal shooting at the gas station.

Police say Berry-Williams told them when Easley started firing a gun at the gas station, Berry-Williams took off.

The complaint against Berry-Williams says two MPD detectives on Thursday, June 19th, as they were investigating the gas station homicide, were looking for Berry-Williams, whom they knew operated a PT Cruiser.

The complaint says the detectives were performing surveillance of the apartment building where they believed Berry-Williams lived, and they were in a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

While in the 5300 block of N. Teutonia Avenue, a detective observed the vehicle arrive at that location.

The complaint says there was only one person in the vehicle — the driver.

The complaint says the vehicle pulled out and began driving on Teutonia Avenue, and then onto Hampton Avenue.

The vehicle ultimately turned back onto Teutonia Avenue and pulled into a parking lot in the 5300 block.

The complaint says the driver jumped out of the vehicle and began firing shots at the vehicle the two detectives were in.

The complaint says a detective reported the gun used by the suspect was a silver medium-sized semi-automatic pistol.

There were three shots fired by the driver of the PT Crusier towards the detectives into the Jeep, and after stopping and exiting the vehicle, a detective heard two or three more shots — according to the complaint.

The complaint says the driver of the PT Cruiser was then observed running from the scene.

A detective then saw the suspect turn around toward him, with his right arm extended across his chest and the gun that he had in his right hand pointed in the detectives’ direction — and the detective fired two or three shots from his pistol.

The suspect continued running.

The complaint says one of the detectives found a gun in the grass in the 5200 block of N. Teutonia Avenue.

The complaint says shortly after this incident, an employee at the CVS Pharmacy on W. Villard Avenue told police he saw Berry-Williams inside the store.

The complaint says the CVS employee told police he heard Berry-Williams on the phone saying “Why were they following me? I shot at the cops. I don’t have the gun anymore.”

Police arrived at the scene, and arrested Berry-Williams.

Police spoke with Berry-Williams, who told them he is cautious because he knows there are a lot of people trying to kill him or rob him, according to the complaint.

The complaint says Berry-Williams told police he didn’t realize it was the police following him in the Jeep until the officers stepped out of the vehicle after he fired shots towards it.

The complaint says Berry-Williams told police while inside the CVS, he called his girlfriend and told her to tell police he had dropped the gun — so they wouldn’t come inside and kill him.

The complaint says Berry-Williams also told police he called 911 several times while inside the CVS store, and when he got through, he told the dispatcher he had just shot at the police — and he didn’t have the gun anymore.

The complaint says Berry-Williams had recently been released from custody at the time of this incident.

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