The U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday it wouldn’t pursue criminal civil rights charges against a white Milwaukee police officer who shot a mentally ill black man 14 times in a city park last year.

The department said in a news release that there was insufficient evidence to warrant charging Christopher Manney in the April 2014 killing of Dontre Hamilton, who was schizophrenic but not violent, according to his family.

According to Manney, who has since been fired, he encountered Hamilton in the park while responding to a call about a man sleeping there. Manney’s attorney, Jonathan Cermele, has said the officer suspected Hamilton was armed and may have been more of a threat than he appeared when he stood up and raised his arms to be frisked.

Manney has said he patted down Hamilton and a struggle ensued. He has said Hamilton took away his police baton and attacked, prompting him to open fire in self-defense.

Police Chief Edward Flynn said at the time that the pat-down wasn’t necessary, and he fired Manney for failing to follow department rules. A panel of police commissioners agreed with Flynn’s decision.

The Justice Department said it based its decision not to charge Manney on eyewitness accounts, physical evidence, Manney’s testimony and input from use-of-force experts. Federal prosecutors said they determined they couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Manney willfully broke the law.

Officials from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the FBI met with the Hamilton family Tuesday to let them know about the decision.

The family’s attorney, Jonathan Safran, said Hamilton’s relatives are disappointed by the decision and dismayed that it took federal prosecutors 10½ months to come to it.

“They don’t have much confidence in the criminal legal process,” Safran said.

At a tearful news conference Tuesday afternoon, Nate Hamilton, Dontre’s brother, said the Justice Department’s decision didn’t surprise him.

“We all know what to expect when it comes to this city,” Hamilton said, speaking for the family. “We know injustice; we’ve seen what injustice looks like before Dontre.”

In a rambling, emotional message, Hamilton at times called for political action and unity and at times warned that unrest could take the streets if changes weren’t enacted. “I’m calling out everybody in my community,” he said and asked people to attend an afternoon rally and march planned ahead of a nearby Republican presidential debate.

Flynn, meanwhile, said his department has been committed to reform and has reduced uses of force, citizen complaints and the number of people injured by police.

He said he has requested a Justice Department partnership and examination “to demonstrate that I am absolutely convinced that external review of our operations, our policies, our procedures and our practices will verify the progress we make and the fact that we are an agency committed to reform.”

Federal officials began to review the case after the Milwaukee County district attorney decided not to file state charges against Manney.

Safran said Dontre Hamilton’s family plans to file a civil rights lawsuit in federal court in the near future.

Hamilton’s mother, Maria Hamilton, started a support group for mothers whose children have died in police encounters and took part in a “Million Moms” march in Washington last May.

From montereyherald.com

Former Milwaukee police officers Graham Kunisch right, and Bryan Norberg left, who were shot and seriously wounded by a gun illegally purchased at Badger Guns. Photograph: Rick Wood/AP

Jurors have ordered a Wisconsin gun store to pay nearly $6m to two Milwaukee police officers who were shot and seriously wounded by a gun purchased at the store.

The ruling came in a negligence lawsuit filed against the store, Badger Guns, by the two officers. The lawsuit alleges the shop allowed an illegal sale despite several warning signs that the gun was being sold to a “straw buyer”, or someone who was buying the gun for someone who couldn’t legally do so. Jurors sided with the officers, ruling that the store was negligent in selling the gun.

Defense attorneys declined to comment after Tuesday’s verdict. An attorney for the officers said he expected years of appeals.

Officer Bryan Norberg and retired Officer Graham Kunisch were both shot after they stopped Julius Burton for riding his bike on the sidewalk in the summer of 2009. Surveillance video shows the officers scuffled with Burton and pushed him against a wall before he shot them both in the face.

Investigators said Burton got the weapon a month before the confrontation, after giving $40 to Jacob Collins to make the purchase from Badger Guns in West Milwaukee.

One bullet shattered eight of Norberg’s teeth, blew through his cheek and lodged into his shoulder. He remains on the force but argues that his wounds have made his work difficult. Kunisch was shot several times, resulting in him losing an eye and part of the frontal lobe of his brain. He said the wounds forced him to retire.

Jurors ordered the store to pay Norberg $1.5m and Kunisch $3.6m, in addition to $730,000 in punitive damages.

The gun shop’s defense lawyers denied wrongdoing and said the owner, Adam Allan, couldn’t be held financially responsible for crimes connected to a weapon sold at his shop. Badger Guns, previously known as Badger Outdoors, has since closed and been replaced by a gun shop called Brew City Shooters Supply. All three entities have been run by Allan family members.

Authorities have said more than 500 firearms recovered from crime scenes had been traced back to Badger Guns and Badger Outdoors, making it the “number one crime gun dealer in America”, according to a 2005 charging document from an unrelated federal case. A former federal agent has also said the shop had failed take necessary precautions to prevent straw purchases.

Norberg and Kunisch cited those details in their lawsuit, saying they showed a history of negligence.

The issue gained attention in the US presidential campaign when Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton recently said she would push for a repeal of the George Bush-era gun law that Badger Guns’ lawyers said shielded the store from liability claims.

Burton pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree attempted intentional homicide and is serving an 80-year sentence. The man who purchased the gun, Jacob Collins, got a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to making a straw purchase for an underage buyer.

Two police chiefs from major metropolitan cities are lamenting the way journalists report on race relations and law enforcement.

“I think one of the great myths is that there is some kind of breakdown between the people at the grassroots and their police,” Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn told host Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.”

“It’s a false construct,” Flynn said.  “It’s a canard.  The reality is that our officers are out there day after day protecting our communities.”

“There are thousands of police actions that go well everyday you never hear about because they went well,” added Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey.

“Nobody talks about that sort of thing,” Ramsey said.  “That’s why police are here to begin with.  It really does distort the view of what is going on in policing.”

Flynn and Ramsey’s remarks come amid a summer of increased violence against police officers.

“Fox News Sunday” reported that 24 police officers have died nationwide in attacks against law enforcement since 2015 started.

Ramsey argued on Sunday that the media is focusing more on race relations rather than the actual causes of criminal activity.

That narrative, he charged, is complicating the issue of violence for police departments and the communities they serve.

“There are lot of issues behind crime in our neighborhoods,” he said.  “If you’d don’t address the drivers of crime, this is not going to result in anything at all that’s positive.”

Ramsey additionally called on members of the Black Lives Matter movement to exercise restraint when questioning the real issue of police abuse.

“We do have officers that engage in misconduct,” he said.  “[But] if all you want to do during a meeting is scream and shout, you’re not going to get very far.  It certainly doesn’t help.”

“We’re not sure we’ve just got a spike or a real change phenomenon,” Flynn added of this summer’s rise in violent crime.

Just moments after a Milwaukee police officer shot a 15-year-old on Milwaukee’s north side, the situation was caught on camera.

Police say the teen was armed.

The 15-year-old’s mother is disputing police claims.

She was surrounded by supporters at her home on Saturday as her son remains in police custody at Children’s Hospital.

For the first time, we see the intense moments following an officer-involved shooting near 26th and Nash.

A 15-year-old lays on the ground as officers rush on the scene. Cell phone video was taken by witness Alonzo Martin from Milwaukee, and showed to FOX6 News by the wounded teenager’s mother.

“I just don’t understand. I just don’t understand,” said Tamara Cole, Kevin Cole’s mother.

Police responded to the area on Friday, April 24th, after a report of shots fired. Authorities say officers stopped two teens.

During that stop, 15-year-old Kevin Cole was shot. Police say he was armed with a semi-automatic handgun.

“He wasn’t shooting at him, he was fleeing,” said Tamara Cole.

Tamara Cole hasn’t been able to see her son.

“I want to see my baby. I want to make sure he’s alive, myself,” said Tamara Cole.

Cole is in police custody at Children’s Hospital.

“Kevin is a good kid,” said Tamara Cole.

Police say the teen has an arrest record. His mom says he’s not a criminal.

“He doesn’t have any type of felonies, never been in trouble, doesn’t do drugs,” said Tamara Cole.

Saturday, supporters surround the family home. Cole’s grandmother is in disbelief.

“He didn’t have a gun, he didn’t have a gun. My heart is hurting because that’s my oldest grandson,” said Ruthie Cole, Kevin Cole’s grandma.

This family is demanding answers, as an investigation continues.

The officer involved has been placed on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation.

Meantime, the teen’s current condition is unknown — but Friday night, April 24th, police tell FOX6 News his condition was serious, but stable.