Deadly Exchange In Milwaukee Left Both Officer and Teenage Suspect Dead

Last week, a young man in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, struck a deal in court acknowledging both his youth and his mistakes related to three local misdemeanor hit-and-run cases he was accused of at 17 and 18 years old, pleading guilty to one in exchange for a lighter probationary sentence, Bryan Polcyn reports for FOX6 Milwaukee.

His lawyer told the judge that he had an interview for a new job the next day. But early the next morning, around 1 a.m., local police were searching for Terrell Thompson in connection to an alleged robbery. That pursuit turned deadly, for both Thompson and the Milwaukee police. 

Milwaukee Police Officer Peter Jerving died at the hospital last Tuesday after police say he was shot by Thompson during the exchange. Jerving also fired his gun, hitting 19-year-old Thompson and killing him on the scene. Jerving’s life was celebrated in processions both from the hospital to the medical examiner’s office and from the office to the funeral home where a service was held for him.

At Jerving’s funeral, among calls for blessing for local police and for Thompson’s family, Jerving’s mother Patty called on local officers to “wipe away any bitterness” they might feel toward Thompson, and reminded those attending that Thompson’s mother “also lost a son on February 7.” Thompson’s family has asked police to release bodycam footage from the day of the deaths.