MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office confirms with FOX6 News it has received the report from the state's Department of Justice in the officer-involved shooting incident that killed Dontre Hamilton. 31-year-old Hamilton was shot by a Milwaukee police officer and killed on April 30th in Red Arrow Park in downtown Milwaukee.
Dontre Hamilton
The law now says an outside agency must investigate any and all officer-involved deaths, and it appears the state's Department of Justice has completed its investigation.
That investigation has now been forwarded to the District Attorney's Office for review.
It is unclear when the District Attorney's Office will have a decision in the case -- as to whether anyone should be charged in Hamilton's death.
Hamilton's family on July 21st met with the District Attorney's Office, the Medical Examiner and three Department of Justice investigators. They say they left that meeting with more questions than answers.
Hamilton's family members say the meeting has convinced them the officer responsible for shooting and killing Hamilton should face charges.
"We haven`t got no idea if he`s gonna file criminal charges but we feel like what we`ve come to learn today is there should be criminal charges filed," Dontre Hamilton's brother, Nathaniel Hamilton said.
Nathaniel Hamilton Jr. says his brother was murdered for the legal act of sleeping in a park. He says his family is still trying to grasp why the officer reacted so violently.
The officer, responding to a call, approached Dontre Hamilton on April 30th. A scuffle ensued, and some witnesses say Hamilton took the officer's baton to protect himself from being beaten. Nathaniel Hamilton says the family has learned the officer then shot his brother 15 times.
"There`s witness statements backing up that maybe Dontre did hit the officer, but there`s also evidence that states Dontre never swung the baton. He was shot in the upper chest area, he was shot in the neck, he was shot once in the back. He took shots in the abdomen, the forearm. It was just, it was unnecessary," Nathaniel Hamilton said.
Family members say Dontre Hamilton was schizophrenic.
Hamilton's family's lawyer says from what they've seen, MPD conducted all of the initial interviews.
"We believe it would be contrary to the law. We believe it`s a big concern and we believe there has to be a better explanation provided to us as to why it was not DCI or another outside agency that came in and did this investigation," Hamilton's family's attorney Jonathan Safran said.
The state Department of Justice's report in this case is purely informational. The charging decision rests with the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office.
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