Milwaukee police officer recovering after being shot, suspect identified
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) officer is recovering after a shooting in Milwaukee that seriously injured an officer and left a suspect dead.
"It's heart-wrenching when you get the first phone call, like the very first phone call of an officer down," said Milwaukee Police Association President Alexander Ayala. "You don’t know what's going on. You don’t know if they are just shot, injured, or you know something worse."
Milwaukee Police Association President Alexander Ayala says the officer who was shot twice in the incident is still recovering in the hospital and has a long road ahead.
Newly obtained surveillance video shows 24-year-old Isaiah Stott casually walking and talking with a person on 24th Street near Wisconsin Avenue while holding a semiautomatic rifle. The video is moments before police say he fired shots into the air.
When officers ordered him to stop, they say he turned his gun on them and started shooting, hitting a 34-year-old officer in the leg and stomach. Another officer shot and killed Stott.
"His injuries I would say were very life threatening if they would have been an inch either way," said Ayala. "I did talk to him yesterday, he's doing OK."
The officer's name hasn't been released yet, but he's served on the force with MPD for eight years.
Ayala checked in on district three officers who were there facing challenges on the snowy scene.
"These officers went in there and did their job, you know stopped the threat," said Ayala. "Because you know kids were in their homes yesterday because of the snow day. Any of those bullets could have gone through any home and killed a kid."
He says the officers are shaken up but are doing what they can to help the recovering officer and his family.
"The camaraderie of the officers even last night, officers went to his house shoveled the snow for him and are preparing things for him and his family in the coming days and so are we."
Ayala says two other officers are on administrative leave right now as they investigate.
CBS 58 spoke with the gunman's father, Walker Stott. He says his son was a Marine Corps veteran who struggled with mental health. He says his son was fighting demons and he was scared.
