Beloit police shoot Latino man who was having “mental health issue”
By Robert Chappell, for Madison365
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BELOIT, WI (365 Media Foundation, Inc) — A Beloit police officer shot a man identified as Hispanic on Wednesday evening.
A Rock County dispatch shift supervisor confirmed late Wednesday night that a law enforcement officer had shot someone and that the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation had taken over the investigation. Town of Beloit Police and Rock County Sheriff deputies also assisted at the scene.
The dispatch supervisor did not have any information related to the man’s condition.
Police dispatch audio indicates that around 7:45 pm Wednesday, a Hispanic man was “having some mental health issue” and threw his body against a slow-moving car. Moments later, a female officer told dispatchers that shots were fired and said, “One down. I’m ok.” She later confirmed it was a law enforcement officer who had fired a weapon. Officers can later be heard saying they had applied a tourniquet to the man’s right arm.
A witness said in a Facebook Live video that she heard two shots, then saw the man running away from a female police officer. The witness said in the live video that he fell in front of her house, where police can be seen rendering aid for several minutes before an ambulance arrived. The man was placed on a stretcher and in an ambulance, which did not leave the scene for more than 30 minutes.
The witness who posted the Facebook live video didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment or permission to share the video, so we are not identifying the witness.
Beloit police officers have worn body cameras since 2018.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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