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A Wisconsin police officer will not face any charges in the 2016 fatal shooting of a man who was sleeping inside of a car at a park, prosecutors announced Wednesday (June 1).
Former Wauwatosa police officer Joseph Mensah shot and killed 25-year-old Jay Anderson Jr. on June 23, 2016. Mensah told investigators that he approached Anderson's car around 3:00 a.m. and noticed a handgun on the front seat. Mensah claims Anderson initially complied with orders to keep his hands raised but lunged after the gun, prompting Mensah to shoot him at least six times, including five times in the head and once in the shoulder, according to an autopsy report.
Special prosecutors Scott Hansen and Tim Gruenke announced that their review of the fatal shooting did not yield a legal basis for criminally charging Mensah. Hansen said proving to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Mensah didn't act in self-defense when he shot Anderson would have been too difficult.
"We believe the evidence will not permit that," Hansen said.
Anderson's mother, Linda Anderson, promised to keep fighting for justice for her son."I'm not stopping until that man is behind bars, where he needs to be," Linda Anderson told reporters after the hearing.
Mensah, who is now a detective for the Waukesha, Wisconsin County Sheriff's Office, killed three people in the line of duty over the span of five years.
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