Jury selection in new trial involving Badger Guns begins Tuesday

MILWAUKEE COUNTY -- Jury selection begins Tuesday, May 17th in connection with a new trial involving Badger Guns.

Seven months after two Milwaukee police officers who were shot and wounded won a case against Badger Guns, a new trial is set to begin, involving the same store.

The new case involves two different injured officers.

The first victory for the MPD officers was a landmark liability case where the gun store was ordered to pay millions for negligence when they sold a gun to the criminal who would later shoot the officers.

Two new plaintiffs are hoping for the same outcome.

In video from 2007, Milwaukee police talk about the arrest of two men suspected of shooting MPD officers.

"We have two suspects in custody. The 15-year old was shot, and we also have the 24-year old male who is in custody who was with the 15-year-old," former MPD spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz said.

The officers were shot when they approached two suspects near S. 13th Street and W. Greenfield Avenue in Milwaukee.

Victor Veloz was sentenced to serve 60 years in prison for that shooting. Jose Fernandez was sentenced to serve 24-and-a-half years in prison for buying the gun and giving it to Veloz.

A civil lawsuit filed in 2010 alleges that Fernandez illegally purchased an assault-style gun at Badger Guns. Shortly before the shooting, he returned and bought a handgun.

The suit alleges Badger Guns negligently and unlawfully sold the pistol to Fernandez, despite him being an illegal drug user and straw purchaser. A straw purchase involves someone buying a gun for someone who cannot legally purchase one.

These are the same allegations made against Badger Guns in connection with the 2009 shooting of MPD officers Bryan Norberg and Graham Kunisch. They sued Badger Guns after they were shot by Julius Burton, and in October 2015, a jury awarded the officers $6 million.

Jacob Collins purchased the gun from Badger Guns for Burton, and jurors ruled Badger Guns was negligent when it sold a gun to a man who was buying it for someone else.

To avoid a lengthy appeals process, the officers settled the case for $1 million.

MPD officers Jose Lopez and Alejandro Arce were awarded their jury trial in 2014. It is set to begin on Monday, May 16th, and could last up to three weeks.