Cudahy worker killed 2 in self-defense: prosecutor

Listen to this article

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A maintenance worker who fatally shot two teens as police say he was being beaten with a baseball bat in Milwaukee will not be charged, a prosecutor said Monday.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm announced Wednesday his office reviewed the police investigation, interviewed witnesses and viewed cellphone video before concluding that Jeremy Rossetto, of Cudahy, fired the shots in self-defense, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Police said 17-year-old Anmarie Miller and 19-year-old James Bell Jr., both of Milwaukee, were killed in an apartment building stairwell March 12.

Prosecutors are still reviewing the case against a 20-year-old who is accused of punching Rossetto and have not made a charging decision.

Police said the three younger people got into an argument with the 39-year-old Rossetto. Police say one of the three was holding him while another beat him with a souvenir baseball bat before Rossetto drew a gun and fired.

The district attorney’s office said Rossetto believed that his actions were “necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself.”

Rossetto’s attorney, David Geraghty, had told the Journal Sentinel that his client considers it an “occupational necessity” to carry a gun and has a permit to do so. He also said that Rossetto considered the incident a tragedy and had never used his gun before in a confrontation.

Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com