Milwaukee, WI – The families of Alvin Cole, Jay Anderson, Jr., and Antonio Gonzales (“Thee 3”), along with organizers from the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the Community Task Force MKE, and their supporters, mobilized in the early afternoon of June 18.

Their purpose was to deliver complaints to Wauwatosa Police Chief Barry Weber and to Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride before marching to Mayfair Mall. The event was focused on winning justice for “Thee 3”, all murdered by the same person: Joseph Anthony Mensah of the Wauwatosa Police Department.

Responding to a July 2015 911 call placed by a landlord about a distressed tenant, Mensah arrived and killed Gonzales in his own backyard, shooting him eight times. Less than a year later, in June 2016, Mensah killed Anderson in his car while he was parked and sleeping, shooting him five times in the head and shoulder.

Mensah’s use of force was deemed warranted in both cases. He then shot Cole several times in the back as he fled through a parking lot outside Mayfair Mall in February 2020. These three murders account for all deaths at the hands of Wauwatosa police in at least the last seven years, yet Mensah remains employed with the WPD.

The June 18 action began with attorney Kimberly Motley, who is representing both the Anderson and Cole families, delivering their complaint to Wauwatosa Mayor McBride at City Hall. Everyone then got in their cars and drove over to the Wauwatosa Police Department to deliver the other complaint.

The people were greeted with concrete barricades that had been set up outside the entrance to the building, as if the police were trying to prevent a crowd from swarming their headquarters. The group split, with some filing into the reception area and some remaining on the outside. The family hoped to deliver their complaint directly to Chief Weber.

However, the chief was “not available” when the families and their supporters arrived on site. The people gathered inside the building began chanting, using megaphones to ensure that Weber heard them when they called for his job and the job of the killer cop his department employs.

Shortly after, both groups came together to take the streets with the Gonzales, Anderson, and Cole families. Antonio Gonzales’s mother arrived before the march began and stated, “I have been in the darkness for too long, and I am now stepping into the light.”

The group then marched to Mayfair Mall, chanting and holding signs. The chants included “My house, my sword,” (a reference to the Gonzales killing), “Run, no gun,” (Cole’s words just before Mensah shot and killed him), and “Arrest Joseph Mensah.” At the end of the march Taleavia Cole, Alvin’s sister, addressed the crowd. She thanked them and stated that Milwaukee needs community control of the police through an all-elected civilian police accountability council in order to prevent killer cops like Mensah from killing again.

#MilwaukeeWI #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #ChicanoLatino #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #WauwatosaPoliceDepartment #MilwaukeeAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #Thee3

“What is clear and not a matter of dispute is that the deceased fired his weapon before the police officer fired theirs,” said Wauwatosa Police Chief Barry Weber.

During the press briefing, Chief Weber introduced a photo of the firearm that the police allege was found at the scene, and a video from the dashboard cams in two squad cars was shown. Weber also claimed that authorities found an extended magazine with 35 rounds in Cole’s bag.

In the low-quality video, police say five gunshots can be heard, the first of which is supposedly Cole firing the 9mm semi-automatic from the photo. As proof of this, Chief Weber explained that the crime lab discovered a spent shell casing inside the chamber of the weapon they claim Cole fired. The next four are the shots from the officer that took Cole’s life.

Nothing from the video that was shown could be described as conclusive. It’s hard to differentiate the sounds on the inside of the vehicle from what’s happening on the scene outside. Wauwatosa police officers don’t wear body cams, so the view that is presented in the video is at least 30 feet from where the murder takes place.

Something pointed out by Christopher Storm, a local private investigator who has been involved in documenting the police and challenging their narratives when they’ve committed crimes, puts into question the story that Wauwatosa police are rolling out.

“The weapon [in the photo] appears to have the safety in the ‘on’ position, meaning the gun would not fire,” Storm said. “The gun has no magazine or clip in it. The crime lab could not find a ‘spent casing inside the chamber,’ as a semi-automatic will eject the casing to prepare for the next firing and send the spent casing flying out and to the side. Something is wrong, if this is Alvin Cole’s gun.”

Stretching the truth and presenting false evidence to exonerate killer cops is something that police departments everywhere do. With this being the fifth death at the hands of a police officer in five years, this is old hat for the Wauwatosa Police Department. Leaving the investigation in the hands of the Milwaukee police simply adds to the initial causes for concern that justice will be denied to Cole, his family and his friends. The community is outraged and are demanding justice.

#MilwaukeeWI #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #WauwatosaPoliceDepartment #AlvinCole

During the morning of January 25, Ceasar Stinson, 47, was killed in a car crash precipitated by an unmarked MCSO squad car. Stinson was a long-time community advocate and a lobbyist for Milwaukee Public Schools. Friends, family and colleagues gathered on January 27 to remember Stinson and the work he did to benefit his community. Questions abound about the circumstances of Stinson’s death, namely, who is to blame?

“The speed of the car, something had to be going pretty fast in order for that to happen,” said Kwabena Antoine Nixon, a friend of Stinson’s for more than 20 years.

The MPD is conducting the investigation into the fatal crash. The MCSO officer was treated at a hospital for minor injuries while the passenger in Stinson’s car is in stable condition. MCSO has placed the officer, who has been on the force 23-years, on paid administrative leave for the length of the investigation. His identity has not been revealed.

And then on the evening of February 2, in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa, officers from the Wauwatosa Police Department shot and killed Alvin Cole, a just-turned-17-year old high schooler. Officers responded to a call about a disturbance at the Mayfair Mall, just a couple miles outside of Milwaukee’s city limits. The call indicated that one of people may have had a gun.

When they arrived on the scene, a group of approximately 10 people were gathered in a parking lot outside the mall. Upon seeing the cops, at least four members of the group broke off from the others. That is when a Wauwatosa officer shot Cole in the back as he was running away. A gun was reportedly found at the site of the murder.

The investigation of this crime is being conducted by the Milwaukee Police Department. MPD reported that the identity of the officer involved would not be released at this time. They have been placed on administrative leave. Video of the killing from the officer’s body camera has also not been made public.

Family, friends and supporters from the community gathered at a vigil on February 3 near where Cole was killed. More than 50 people came out in a show of unity with the family.

“They shot my baby, my baby boy,” said Tracy Cole, Alvin’s mother. “He was supposed to graduate from high school this year. Seventeen years old. Very intelligent young man. Wanted to go to college. He tells me, ‘Mom, I am going to do something positive with myself.’”

The family and their supporters have made it very clear that they intend to seek and win justice for Alvin Cole. Part of that involves an independent investigation, something that does not appear to be in the cards, as Milwaukee police are currently charged with the task.

At the vigil, members of the Original Black Panthers of Milwaukee helped to guide the proceedings with powerful words. Mention was made of a march on the Wauwatosa Police Department, but no information about a date or time was given out.

“We are going to demand a clear, transparent investigation. You see the family is hurt. The community is hurt. We need answers, and we are demanding answers,” said King Rick, a leader of the Panthers. “This was a young man, a child, a young black man. Children make mistakes. Children get in trouble, but do they deserve to die for that?”

What these two incidents make clear is the lack of responsibility and the sheer disregard for Black lives that is shared across law enforcement agencies in Milwaukee and the surrounding suburbs. Milwaukee’s Black residents need authentic justice, something they so rarely see in one of the U.S.’s most segregated cities. Tthose gathered at the vigil shouted out with resolve, “No justice, no peace!”

#MilwaukeeWI #OppressedNationalities #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #MilwaukeeCountySheriffsOfficeMCSO #WauwatosaPoliceDepartment #CeasarStinson #AlvinCole