Milwaukee police on Friday, April 8 released a community briefing related to an officer-involved shooting that transpired at District 5 in February.
Darreon Parker-Bell has since been charged with eight counts, including attempted first-degree intentional homicide, in connection to the shooting.
Security footage shows Parker-Bell and an officer speaking at a counter inside the station on Feb. 25. Parker-Bell allegedly inquired about an in-custody death that had happened earlier that week, and the officer said that information could not be released – citing the pending investigation.
Parker-Bell was then seen on the video pulling out a gun and firing shots inside the station. There are other people seen in the lobby and behind the counter.
Security shots Darreon Parker-Bell open fire inside MPD District 5
An officer returned fire, and Parker-Bell ran out of the lobby and into the neighborhood. Officers then pursued him on foot.
Officers found Parker-Bell and ordered him to drop the gun. He did not, and turned toward police – at which time an officer fired, captured on bodycamera video.
Bodycam footage of officer ordering Parker-Bell to drop his gun before firing his own gun.
Parker-Bell continued to flee, but was later found – still armed – and was again ordered to drop his gun. He did not comply, allegedly pointed the gun toward officers, and officers fired multiple shots – striking and wounding Parker-Bell.
Officers treated him at the scene before he was taken to the hospital. He was released from the hospital several days later and placed back into law enforcement custody. Court records show a judge set cash bond at $500,000.
Bodycam footage shows officers render aid to Parker-Bell after firing shots
The casings found inside the District 5 lobby matched the weapon that Parker-Bell had with him during the incident, according to police. No community members or officers were injured.
Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said the seven officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation.
The West Allis Police Department was named the lead outside agency to investigate the incident.
Milwaukee police in-custody death of Keishon Thomas, video released
MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee police on Friday, April 8 released a community briefing related to the in-custody death of Keishon Thomas in February.
Police said they pulled over Thomas just before 2 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23 near 20th and Capitol for a moving violation. He had a bench warrant for theft two years ago.
As seen on the arresting officer’s body camera video, Thomas was taken into custody without incident. Later, police state, an officer reached into Thomas’ pants pocket. At that time Thomas ingested a white substance in front of officers and said: “I ate the little, the little smoke I had.”
Body camera footage during arrest of Keishon Thomas
During the intake process, security cameras showed Thomas pull something else off his person. He appeared to ingest something again before something dropped on the floor near a garbage can.
A routine medical questionnaire was administered, during which Thomas appeared alert. The booking process was completed without incident, police said. Thomas said he ingested drugs before he was stopped and said: “I am feeling bad.” Thomas said he thought he needed medication. An officer is heard in the video offering to take him to the hospital multiple times for medical care, but he said: “I don’t want to go to the hospital. I should be OK.”
He was placed in a holding cell without incident around 3 a.m. During a cell block check around 6 p.m., an officer noticed Thomas was not breathing, went in to check on him and ran to call for help. A group of officers, seen on video, then ran back to the cell and began rendering aid.
EMS personnel came and attempted live-saving measures, which were unsuccessful. The cause of Thomas’ death remains unknown, but is under investigation. The medical examiner listed his death as an “accident.”
Officers respond to cell where Keishon Thomas was found not breathing
The law requires an outside to investigate these types of deaths. In this case, the Waukesha Police Department is the lead investigating agency.
Three Milwaukee police officers were suspended with pay – pending the outcome of the internal investigation.
WARNING: The video below contains images that some viewers may find disturbing.
Thomas’ family responds
It is what the video does not show that has Thomas’ family concerned.
Thomas, 20, was in police custody for 16 hours, but the family said they have only seen 17 minutes of video – and need to see more.
The events that preceded Thomas’ death began with the traffic stop around 2 a.m. Sixteen hours later, officers rushed into his cell once he was found not breathing. Family wants to know what happened during those hours spent inside District 5.
“Not being able to see how many times he was checked on – how many cell checks were there, how many different officers were on staff when Keishon was there?” said Jennifer Garcia, Thomas’ cousin.
The briefing that police released to the public Friday includes clips of edited video along with officers’ descriptions of events. The released video does not including anything that happened during the 15-hour stretch that Thomas was in the cell where he was ultimately found unresponsive.
“We don’t know how long he was there. We don’t know, was it morning, was it evening? Was it afternoon?” Garcia said.
MPD said the briefings are meant to release relevant video that does not jeopardize the investigation.
