first and most importantly i want to update you on the condition of the two officers officer brian norberg is improving and is in good condition which is hard for you to believe considering that he was shot several times but god bless him that 21 year old there's a is made of sterner stuff officer graham coonish is still recovering he's still critical we have absolutely every expectation that he's going to pull through but he is still being treated uh seriously uh and is he is in good hands he's surrounded by family and he is receiving expert medical attention uh the suspect is in custody district attorney chisholm is here with us today he's going to can review these charges later this week now yesterday just so you understand what kind of police department you have as you know having covered it while we were working on this incident with two wounded officers in the midst of that crisis and trauma we had another homicide on the north side last night and within 12 hours that individual was under arrest we have him in custody we will provide more details later about him and how that case was solved but it was of more than passing interest that the individual whom we have in custody was released from prison yesterday morning so there'll be more on that as this case develops we're not standing by in this city while people carry guns and put the public at risk last night in this district at 10 30 at night two of our officers responding to a robbery complaint confronted a man on a bicycle and arrested him for felony possession of a firearm this department is not backing off and this city will stay safe i'm proud today that to be joined by some people who behaved heroically who don't carry sidearms but who support their community and their police department and those who work in it today i have with me anthony thompson a driver for american united taxi he's the one that called he's the 911 that held the hand of one of the wounded officers as he bled in the street trying to comfort and console him we also have with us a ups driver mike charbonneau whose dad was a milwaukee police department officer he was also present and also drove his truck around trying to help find the individual who perpetrated this act we've already you know extended our gratitude to the paramedics and all else who helped us yesterday i would like however at this point to invite the mayor to speak and then i'll invite mike and anthony to uh to say a few words mr mayor thank you very much chief and i want to thank you and all the men and women from the milwaukee police department who really went into action last night in high gear both with the tragedy on the south side of milwaukee and then with the homicide on the north side i also want to once again thank our firefighters our firefighters were there very very very quickly got these two officers out to froedtert hospital and that i think is what certainly has put them in a better condition than they would have been but it was because of the fast work of our fire department and our paramedics that they were able to to get these gentlemen out to freighter as quickly as they did it's not often when you get an opportunity to thank two everyday heroes but that's who we have behind us today with anthony and michael when i arrived at the scene i saw the taxi cab that had pulled right in front of where these two officers had been shot and my first reaction not knowing who was driving that cab or what had transpired was whoever was driving this cab put themselves right into harm's way because it was so clear that this cab was stationed immediately in front of the spot where the two officers had been shot so anthony i want to thank you on behalf of the citizens of this city for your bravery for putting yourself in harm's way he's he saw what was going on and maneuvered his vehicle right there as the officers were going down and michael is that correct yes michael the ups driver i saw him as i was leaving the scene i didn't realize at that time that he had been the one who had literally followed the assailant or this the suspect and saw where he was running and told some of the neighbors do what you can this gentleman just shot two police officers so i want to thank you and i want everybody here including the the cameraman to give these two guys a round of applause because this was unbelievable this is unbelievable i have often said that our police department can't do its job alone and we need citizens in this city to cooperate with the police and yesterday at a time when we were facing one of the most serious tragedies we have had in this police department in many many years it was because of these two citizens and other citizens who stepped forward in the middle of the day when this could have been a much much much worse situation and we all know how bad it was but they were able to really help the situation and help the police officers who were there i also want to thank the literally dozens of police officers who converged on this scene and on the north side scene and again as the chief said it shows you how proactive this department is and how aggressive they are in doing what they can now i want to spend a minute talking about the gentleman who shot him 18 year old with a gun i have talked and talked and talked about how we in god's name allow teenagers in this community to have guns handguns an 18 year old on a bicycle with a handgun what is wrong with this what is wrong with the society when we stand by and say well that's what happens in america in 2009 that's what has to change we have to change it we don't know all the specifics right now about where that gun came from how he got it but if history is any indicator it's going to be a gun that was purchased locally and someone decided that for whatever reason at all they thought it was a great idea to give an eighteen-year-old a handgun and now we have two police officers out of freighter because he had that done i've gone to churches i've gone to community groups and i've said the people in those areas if your kid thinks that they have to have a gun to go out with their friends those are not their friends and if you think that your kid is not putting himself in harm's way by carrying that gun you're wrong right now i'm concerned about the lives of these two police officers but we also have to be mindful of what can happen when people in this community carry guns in very high high density parts of this community in any part of this community and it's time that the legislature and the governor come into special session and start enhancing the penalties for felons who are carrying guns in this community for people who are carrying guns i don't care what these special interest groups say i want them to see what happens in that hospital room when you've got police officers lying there because someone says it's a great idea to be carrying a gun in the middle of a city it has to change and it has to change now i don't want to go through this again in this community but until we get serious about dealing with this issue my fears we're going to see it happen again the chief just talked about it last night at 10 30 two more police officers stop another guy on a bike with a gun it's gotta end and it's gotta end now we need the help from the state to end this thank you mr mayor um i look forward to working with you on this issue i know the d.a does as well um people have not heard the last of this i also want to take a moment and recognize the cooperation we got on the north side of town last night homicide investigations don't get solved by magic they're getting solved by good investigations cooperative citizens and hard work and the people on north side did not invoke the magic no snitching rule they helped us at every step of the way again every side of this community last night stepped up to help protect itself and work with its police department it's a tribute to very many people i'd like mike and uh and anthony to step up now and please say a few words mike anthony come on come on there you go and by the way we now know what brown can do for you i just like to send my prayers to the officers and um i'm thankful that i was able to contribute and now the reality i don't think i'm a hero i did anything that any decent person in the city of milwaukee would have took the time out to do if they seen any two people laying on the ground bleeding whether they were police officers or regular citizens and um i would just like to say that i hope my thoughts and prayers are with them so are mine my thoughts and prayers are with the officers and their families and i i also feel like i didn't do anything i was just trying to do what i could do to help i just saw the guy running and tried to find out where he was going so i could help in the investigation in a search all right captain galio please step up this is district and he's had quite a 24 hour thank you um first off obviously our prayers go out to our officers our young officers who are out on the street in encountering this kind of situation and our prayers are all go out to them what i would like to talk about though is the entertainment district within walker's point the media needs to realize and the citizens really need to realize that the walker's point entertainment area is a safe area to be this is an isolated incident obviously in that area and we don't want to cast a cloud over that area where so many businesses are working so hard to to make a living and run a great business and there's people living there that are great citizens the crime rate for that area of the first six months of this year compared to last year is down 18 percent so we're doing everything we can in an area to keep it safe