Wauwatosa police officer says he was assaulted by protesters

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WAUWATOSA, Wis. (AP) — Police in Wauwatosa are investigating claims made by a suburban Milwaukee police officer who has shot and killed three people in the line of duty during the last five years that violent protests took place outside his home.

Police said in a release that 50 to 60 protesters vandalized Joseph Mensah’s home just after 8 p.m. Saturday, radio station WTMJ reported. Mensah was physically assaulted while trying to talk with the group, according to the release.

Police said an armed protester also fired a shotgun into the home.

According to WTMJ, Mensha said in a Facebook post that protesters “tried to kill me.” Mensha said he was unarmed, and children were inside the home that he was trying to defend. “The irony in all of this is that they chanted Black Lives Matter the entire time, but had zero regard for any of the black children that live there or me, a black man.”

Police are investigating.

Mensah was suspended in July after a unanimous vote by the Wauwatosa police and fire commission. The vote came one day after the Common Council passed a resolution calling for Mensah’s removal.

The commission approved hiring a third-party investigator to look into a complaint against Mensah by the family of Jay Anderson Jr. who was killed by the officer in 2016.

The fatal shootings of Anderson Jr. and Antonio Gonzales in 2015 have been determined to be justified self-defense by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office. That office is still investigating the shooting death of Alvin Cole in February.