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Kenosha police kill naked man who was threatening his kids

Officer fired 9 shots to stop 300-pound suspect

By MEG JONES mjones@journalsentinel.com
Posted: March 29, 2005

Kenosha - A naked, screaming 300-pound man armed with a large pair of scissors was shot to death on a Kenosha street by police early Tuesday as he threatened to harm his three young children, who also were wet and naked.

When the 31-year-old man picked up his 5-year-old son by the head and chest and began to twist his head as if to snap the boy's neck, Officer David Monson fired his .45-caliber service weapon at him, striking him nine times in the torso, said Sgt. Ron Bartholomew. The children - the 5-year-old, a 3-year-old boy and a girl about 14-months-old - were hurt, but their injuries were not life-threatening.

The man's 5-year-old son told authorities his father smoked marijuana, drank a bottle of shampoo and ripped the bathroom sink out of the wall in his home less than a mile from the scene. The incident began when the man argued with his girlfriend and beat her. When she fled, he began tearing up his home and eventually took off his clothing, as well as his kids' clothing.

The boy also said his father punched him in the face, pressed a knife to his sister's stomach and forced his 3-year-old brother to eat some pills that the toddler spit out when the man wasn't looking.

The suspect's name was not released Tuesday because authorities were trying to find next of kin, as well as the mother of the children, who live in Zion, Ill. Police did not know how long the children had been staying with their father.

Monson, a six-year Kenosha police veteran, and Officer Luke Hofmann, a trainee who has been on the force for six months, were sent to the 7100 block of 22nd Ave. just after 2 a.m. after a woman driving on one of the town's main drags noticed the naked man and children.

The woman said the man yelled at her to call 911 and to give him a ride. She called 911 but refused to let him in her car. That made him angrier, and he began to beat on her car, said Bartholomew, so she drove off.

The officers followed the man for three blocks as he walked briskly to the 7400 block of 22nd Ave. past houses with lawns still adorned with Easter decorations. They tried talking to him, but he hollered gibberish. "He was barking at them unintelligibly. They couldn't tell what he was saying," Bartholomew said. "He just continued to yell at both the officers and the children. They followed him for several blocks and then he put the scissors to the child's neck."

Monson pulled out his handgun, and Hofmann grabbed a Taser stun gun. When they saw the man twist his 5-year-old son's neck and the boy went limp, falling to the man's side, Monson fired twice. The man fell forward, landing on top of his young daughter, then reared up and tried to stuff the child between his legs, Bartholomew said. "They were telling him to set the baby down and drop to the ground," Bartholomew said. When he didn't, Monson fired seven more bullets.

The man recently had been released from a Wisconsin correctional facility, but Bartholomew said he didn't know his criminal history.

Monson and Hofmann were placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated, as mandated by state law. Both officers were very emotional when they returned to the police station Tuesday, Capt. Randy Berner said.

It was the second fatal shooting in less than six months by a Kenosha police officer. A 21-year-old man was killed during a struggle with officers in November.

Cheryl Bowen didn't hear the shots early Tuesday but heard her dog, a black mutt named Ted, bark. Bowen saw the flashing police lights through her bedroom window and looked out to see the children wrapped in blankets. She figured there had been a house fire. But then she saw a man's body lying face down in the street next to the curb two doors down. "I was shocked when I saw there was a body," said Bowen, adding that the corpse was still on the street at 6 a.m. Later she heard what had happened. "It was just bizarre. I thought, 'Who would be walking around naked with three naked kids?' They're lucky it wasn't winter."

Across the street from Bowen, Barb DeCicco was awakened by her husband, John, who told her he heard police tell the man to stop and drop something. Then he heard the officer fire his gun. "He ran up the stairs and said 'Shots were fired. Shots were fired,' " said Barb DeCicco. Barb DeCicco later went outside and saw the man's body. As she stood on her stoop Tuesday afternoon, DeCicco pointed to the neatly tended home next door and said a motorist was killed a month ago when he crashed into her neighbor's house. She and her family are moving to Shorewood next week. "After this, I said 'Maybe we shouldn't be here,' " she said.