Milwaukee guard charged with murder
Milwaukee WS August 20 2023
Milwaukee police have arrested a 56-year-old man in the Aug. 16 shooting at a northside gas station that left one man dead.
The suspect’s identity wasn’t immediately released, but police said in a tweet that charges would be forwarded to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office in the coming days.
Protests and crowds have gathered outside the convenience store at North Teutonia Avenue and West Roosevelt Drive in the days after the shooting.
Family and friends of Isaiah Allen, 29, said on social media he was the person who died in the shooting, and offered their sympathies to his loved ones. Many reacted to a story by Fox6 TV in which Allen’s family said he was shot by a security guard who believed he was stealing from the store.
City Alderwoman Andrea M. Pratt pushed for the gas station to be shut down while the investigation continued. Pratt said she would create council legislation that regulates the use of security guards, making it a requirement that they be licensed and bonded.
Businesses shouldn’t be able to come before the city’s Licenses Committee and offer plans of operation that include security if its workers aren’t credentialed by the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, she said.
“The bottom line for me is accountability and justice in this case, and doing what is needed to keep businesses and neighborhoods safe,” said Pratt, whose district includes the area where the shooting occurred. “Our neighborhoods deserve better. We deserve better.”
“There is nothing inside of a store worth someone’s life.”
The city has had 106 homicides with roughly four months left in 2023, compared with 215 reported during all of last year, according to the most-updated crime data provided by Milwaukee police.
