MILWAUKEE -- A Milwaukee man has been charged in the deaths of three people. Dan Popp of Milwaukee, faces three counts of first degree intentional homicide, and one count of attempted homicide. But some say he should be facing harsher charges.
Dan Popp
A coalition of organizations banned together on Friday, March 18th asking that Dan Popp be charged with hate crimes. At least 22 groups, ranging from Hispanic, to Hmong, to Sikh to Jewish community organizations spoke at Milwaukee's City Hall.
The organizations are asking that the District Attorney's Office not only charge Popp with homicide, but add hate crime enhancer.
Milwaukee police arrested 39-year-old Dan Popp at the 92nd and Beloit apartment building where three bodies lay inside on March 6th. Popp was charged with murdering Phia Vue, his wife Mai Vue, Jesus Manso-Perez and trying to kill Perez's son, Jesus Manso-Carraquillo.
Mai & Phia Vue
The criminal complaint says before the killing, Popp asked Manso-Perez where he was from, the response was "Puerto Rico." A short time later, Popp allegedly appeared with a gun saying, "You guys got to go," and started firing.
Representatives from numerous organizations say the crime wasn't only homicide, it was hate.
"To view the murders of Phia and Mai Vue and Jesus Manso-Perez, and the attempted murder of Jesus Manso-Carraquillo, as hate crimes," said Hispanic Chamber Former Director, Maria Monrea-Comeron.
Those from the Sikh Temple who were victims of a mass shooting in 2012, joined the effort.
"We feel the same pain which happened last week, with the Hmong community and the Hispanic community from our families," said Rahul Dubey, Sikh Temple member.
"They are truly hard working and really family-loving couple and a bright future ahead of them. The future has been taken away in this tragedy," said the victim's nephew.
The victim's nephew believes his family was targeted because they are Hmong.
"If it's truly random it would be a plausible explanation but I don't think it was truly random," said the victim's nephew.
Dan Popp
"Charges can always be added if new evidence is developed in a case. We're not locked into what we originally issue in a case, however I think it's important for the community to understand that we do take this tragic crime very seriously. We have issues, four of the most serious charges possible under state law, and we intend to put our best foot forward to obtain convictions on those charges," said Chief Deputy District Attorney for Milwaukee County, Kent Lovern.
The 22 community groups also want an investigation into why Popp, with a history of mental illness, was allowed to have guns.
Right now, Popp is being examined for competency.
Norm
We have been killing each other from the beginning of time. You can’t make someone love you. The hate crime law was made to shut morons up for a while.
chris
Sad thing is that if the rolls were reversed, the hate crimes coalition wouldn’t say a word. It’s only a hate crime when the offender is white.
chris
Roles. Stupid auto correct
Realtalk
Pretty sure this isn’t a “hate crime coalition” these are other MINORITY organizations standing up for fellow MINORITIES
Reagan 84
Talk about BLATANT RACISM,why is it ONLY a Hate Crime when WHITEY does something to a someone of another race or sexual orientation? ALL crimes are HATE CRIMES!!! This country has done nothing in the past 8 president Ovomit years but look to crucify and eliminate the White Man just to serve the satanic Libtard adjenda!!
MORIARTY
Mate, get yourself checked out. Youre quite clearly mental.
Opinion8d
The guy killed 3 people in cold blood. Hopefully he is never getting out of jail. I would give him the death penalty if we had one. The ‘hate’ crime label is just a reason for special interests to claim a grievance.
P009
You have it backwards. If he was black, he would have been shot dead when he came out of the door. If you want to talk about race here, this WHTE guy actually got a mental health exam because when white people kill, they must have not been sound of mind right? People of color wouldn’t even have had a chance for such treatment. This is ignorance at its finest.
Justice
People should do more research on this news before even commenting. He killed them because of where their from and also said because they couldn’t speak fluent english. Therefor marked as a hate crime.
Laajleeb X Vaaj
Wow, they’re seriously going to examine him to see if he knows right from wrong so they can declare him insane and get away with a triple murder? I feel they are doing this because he is White. The details of the murder cannot be disputed. It’s obvious he knows exactly what he was doing. An insane person wouldn’t act the way he did. An insane person wouldn’t target people because they are Asian or Hispanic. He would kill indiscriminately. He just hate other races so he decided to end it all. Let there be riots if he gets away with this by using the insanity or any other excuses.