BROWN DEER, Wis. – A gunman shot three people, killing two, before killing himself on Saturday in an apartment building in Brown Deer, W...
BROWN DEER, Wis. – A gunman shot three people, killing two, before killing himself on Saturday in an apartment building in Brown Deer, Wis., a village near Milwaukee, police said.
A witness, who was also injured in the attack, said one of the two people killed was a man who came to the aid of a woman targeted by the gunman.
Brown Deer Police Chief Peter A. Nimmer said what started as a domestic argument that unfolded in the building’s parking lot, hallway and second floor culminated in beatings of fire.
The witness, Eric Lewis, 36, said he was woken by gunshots and looked out a window in the building, the Park Plaza apartments, and saw a man holding a gun.
This man was involved in an argument with a woman whom Mr Lewis said he believed to be the shooter’s girlfriend.
The woman ran away begging for help, Mr Lewis said. A man and a woman got out of a car to help him, he said, and the shooter shot the man trying to help him. The shooter then chased and shot the woman believed to be his girlfriend, he said.
Chief Nimmer told a news conference that police were unsure of the relationship of all of the victims, “but we know at least two knew each other.”
The identity of the victims has not been made public. Chief Nimmer said the deceased were a 23-year-old woman and a 31-year-old man. A child was in the shooter’s apartment but was unharmed and was placed with relatives, he said.
Mr Lewis said he ran to the car park to help the injured and at that point the shooter reappeared from a second floor balcony, firing a handgun multiple times.
Mr Lewis, who was shot in the right ankle, was treated in a hospital and released. A bullet also hit an officer’s car, Chief Nimmer said. No officers were injured, he said, and no law enforcement personnel fired their weapons.
After the shooter fired at police, officers heard a gunshot that they believe was the shooter who had taken his own life. Officers took the shooter to the hospital, but he did not survive.
Police have not publicly identified the shooter.
The shooting, which was reported at 10:09 a.m., prompted a significant response from police, including members of the FBI, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office and two armored vehicles.
Isabella Grullon Paz contributed report.
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