Police Brutality / Individual record
Burt Johnson
The Washington Post's Fatal Force database records Burt Johnson in a fatal on-duty police shooting on 2016-05-05 in Milwaukee, WI. Individual circumstances and legal outcome require case-specific review.
- Record ID
- PB-422
- Incident date
- May 5, 2016
- Outcome
- Fatal
- Location
- Milwaukee, WI
- Agency
- Milwaukee Police Department
- Category
- Fatal on-duty police shooting
- Age (reported)
- 38
What happened
Burt T. Johnson, 38, was shot and killed by Milwaukee police after a reported armed robbery of an O'Reilly Auto Parts store near 76th Street and Mill Road on May 5, 2016. Police said officers encountered a masked man leaving the business, pursued him on foot, and came under gunfire. One officer was struck in the chest, but a protective vest stopped the bullet. During the pursuit Johnson allegedly fired again; two officers returned fire and killed him. Investigators recovered a handgun at the scene. Wisconsin's Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation reviewed the shooting and published investigative materials. The reported gunfire and injury to an officer are central to the case; the initial narrative comes from police statements.
Investigation & findings
Individual legal and investigative outcome not yet reviewed.
Washington Post Fatal Force v2; 2015–2024
Source record details
- Source incident ID
- 1517
- Race code in source
- B
- Race source method
- not_available
- Gender (source)
- male
- Armed status (source)
- gun
- Flee status (source)
- foot
- Agency IDs (source)
- 253
Sources & records
- Primary source
- Additional source
- Methodology and national police killings trackingMapping Police Violence · Dataset/methodology
- Fatal Force v2 — fatal on-duty police shootings, 2015–2024The Washington Post · Dataset