Assistant Milwaukee Police Chief Michael Brunson speaks surrounded by law enforcement officials during a press conference at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, involving a Milwaukee Police officer who was shot and killed in the line of duty Wednesday morning on Milwaukee's south side. The Milwaukee Police Department is in mourning for the third time in less than a year after an officer was shot and killed Wednesday morning. The officer, whose name has not been released, was a member of the Tactical Enforcement Unit and was part of the team serving a search warrant at a house on the city's south side when he was shot with a rifle, according to three law enforcement sources. (Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)
Republished February 07, 2019 - 3:38 PM
Original Publication Date February 07, 2019 - 5:21 AM
MILWAUKEE - Police are collecting evidence at a Milwaukee home where a police officer was fatally shot while serving a warrant.
Officers have cordoned off part of the residential neighbourhood where 35-year-old Officer Matthew Rittner was killed Wednesday.
The 17-year police veteran was shot as members of Milwaukee's Tactical Enforcement Unit served a search warrant on someone suspected of illegally selling firearms and drugs. Investigators say a 26-year-old suspect fired several rounds. He was later arrested.
Police Chief Alfonso Morales says investigators hope to wrap up their work at the scene Thursday. Rittner's autopsy also is expected to be completed Thursday.
Ritter is the third Milwaukee police officer killed on the job in the last eight months. The department had previously gone more than two decades without a line-of-duty death.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019