Relatives of Antwon Springer, a man shot and killed by Milwaukee police Sunday night, say he fired warning shots in the air to break up a large fight that had broken out in front of his house. Springer, 37, whose nickname was “Blind Mack,” “shot the gun up in the air to break it (the large fight) up. He didn’t mean no harm,” said a relative. Springer was legally blind after having lost sight in one eye from diabetes, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
Two Milwaukee police officers were placed on administrative duty after the shooting. Officers were sent to the site after a report of a large fight in the street with armed suspects. When they arrived, officers saw a man armed with a handgun outside the home. It said the man fired the gun before officers approached him. “During the ensuing confrontation, the officers fired shots striking the suspect,” it said. The officers involved are a 24-year-old man with 2½ years of experience and a 26-year-old man with five years of experience. Byron Henderson, a cousin of Springer, said Springer had been on disability due to worsening health. “He was not a troublemaker,” Henderson said. Springer was armed to protect himself from trouble in the neighborhood, he said. Sunday’s shooting was the second involving Milwaukee police officers in less than a week and at least the third this year.