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Wis. officer fatally shoots man trying to take his gun

Editor’s Note: FBI findings indicate that about 10 percent of felonious police deaths nationwide from 2000 to 2004 involved officers being killed by their own weapons (Related article).

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By John Diedrich, Staff Writer
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A Milwaukee police officer on Friday shot and killed a man who officials said charged at the officer and tried to take his gun.

The dead man was identified by police as David Boone, 43. No weapon was found on Boone, who died at the scene.

An arrest warrant was issued for Boone on Jan. 5 on four felonies: three counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child and one count of causing a child younger than 13 to view explicit material, according to police. Online court records indicate Boone is a felon, but details were not available.

The officer, 40, a 10-year veteran who works at District 7, was hospitalized with a back injury, said Anne E. Schwartz, department spokeswoman. He will be on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation, typical in such cases. His name was not released Friday.

Schwartz gave this account of what happened:

At 10:26 a.m., two officers in uniform and in a marked squad car stopped to talk to Boone, who was on a bicycle in the 2800 block of N. 47th St. Schwartz did not say why officers wanted to talk to Boone.

Boone fled on his bike with one officer giving chase and another remaining with the squad car, she said.

Altercation occurs

In the 2800 block of N. 48th St., an altercation occurred with Boone - who had dropped the bike - charging at the officer and trying to take his police gun, Schwartz said. The officer’s gun fired, but it was unclear how, she said. The officer was able to “regain control” of his gun and resumed chasing Boone, she said.

In a backyard off the alley in the 2800 block of N. 49th St., Boone again charged at the officer, who fired and killed him, Schwartz said. She did not say how many shots were fired or where Boone was hit.

Schwartz said the altercation on N. 48th St. where Boone allegedly tried to get the gun was significant in the officer’s decision to shoot later.

“What this officer knew was this was a suspect who was willing to use deadly force,” Schwartz said.

New DA on the scene

New Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm, who was sworn in this week, was at the scene.

The medical examiner’s record of the shooting was not being released late Friday per an order by police.

Boone was the first person shot and killed by Milwaukee police this year. Last year, there were five fatal shootings involving officers.

Copyright 2007 Journal Sentinel Inc.