MILWAUKEE (AP) — Activists who marched outside the Republican National Convention are trumpeting their efforts, despite crowd estimates falling short. Milwaukee police are praising their cooperation with other agencies in convention security, even as Ohio officers face scrutiny for shooting and killing a man while in the city.
Some activists and attendees say there was more caution after the apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, while others say the setting was the right place to amplify their message and set the stage for future conventions.
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MILWAUKEE (AP) — Activists who marched outside the Republican National Convention are trumpeting their efforts, despite crowd estimates falling short. Milwaukee police are praising their cooperation with other agencies in convention security, even as Ohio officers face scrutiny for shooting and killing a man while in the city.
Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman speaks outside of the Milwaukee Police Department on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wis. (AP Photo/Rio Yamat)
Omar Flores poses for a picture in Zeidler Union Square Monday, July 1, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera Christine Neumann-Ortiz poses for a picture in her office Monday, July 1, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Workers putting up fences near the Republican National Convention location on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, in downtown Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman speaks outside of the Milwaukee Police Department on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wis. (AP Photo/Rio Yamat)
Milwaukee has wrapped up its week in the national spotlight with lessons for Chicago, which hosts the Democratic National Convention next month.
Packed crowds of activists marched through downtown Milwaukee on the convention's first day, chanting for causes including solidarity with Palestinians and reproductive rights. Police on the scene and observers estimated roughly 1,000 people participated, while organizers say it was closer to 3,000.
Either way, the numbers fell short of the 5,000 to 10,000 the Coalition to March on the RNC had predicted in the lead up to the convention. Some think the shooting at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania may have scared some people away.
“It probably had an impact on the perceived risk,” said Omar Flores, a coalition organizer. “It might have had a chilling effect.”
Still, activists believe their protest was a success because they peacefully marched the route they wanted instead of one the city outlined and they brought attention to their progressive agenda.
Aside from the first day demonstrations, there was little other protest activity.
The city had set aside two parks with stages around the convention site for First Amendment activity. Ahead of the convention more than 100 people and groups from all over the political spectrum signed up to speak. But the no-show rate was more than 80%, according to the city. One park had just three speakers one day. City officials said they believe many of those supporting progressive causes opted for the coalition’s protest.
But some had other reasons.
Orlando Owens, who is a leader of Milwaukee County Republicans, had planned to speak in support of Trump at a city stage. But he said he didn’t because he got too busy with the convention and didn’t want to create more divisions in the wake of the attempted assassination.
“It definitely had everybody on pause a little bit,” he said. “It did heighten your caution a little more.”
Milwaukee police and the U.S. Secret Service said security planning has been in the works for more than a year, including heavy police presence on the city's streets and waterways. Authorities said they did not make any changes to the security plan following the Trump rally shooting, but security around the Republican nominee was tighter.
“There are going to be challenges but we do have the resources and also the cooperation with refreshing partners to be able to pivot when those challenges come up,” said Police Chief Jeffrey Norman.
The convention was not without security incidents, including the arrest of a 21-year-old man accused of carrying a concealed firearm near the convention. Police from Columbus, Ohio, in Milwaukee as part of the event security effort on Tuesday fatally shot Samuel Sharpe, who authorities said was armed with knives not far from the convention site.
The shooting ignited anger among residents who said police from outside Milwaukee should not have been stationed in the neighborhood. Activists concerned about police officers' use of force said there was too much police presence overall in Milwaukee. On Thursday night, family members and supporters of Sharpe and another man recently killed in Milwaukee held a rally near the convention to call attention to the deaths.
Norman defended the use of outside agencies, saying the officers took it upon themselves to intervene in an “active imminent threat situation.”
“If anything, it restores the faith in our guardians and our community no matter where they come from, they have our community’s back,” he said. “They could have simply said, ‘Hey, we’re from out of state. Not my problem.’ But did they?”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said the convention put the city on the map and it’s ready for more.
“The RNC is not the end, it’s the beginning,” he said. “It’s the beginning of other large-scale events coming to Milwaukee.”
Johnson, a Democrat, said he’s readying to go to Chicago next month.
Like Milwaukee, Chicago has also been preparing for months, including a controversial move to relocate a large encampment for homeless people.
The crowds are predicted to be much bigger with roughly 50,000 expected visitors, and activists are anticipating tens of thousands of people at demonstrations planned throughout the week.
The Coalition to March on the DNC, which has sued the city over restrictions outlining where they can demonstrate, is in talks for a location near the United Center convention site.
“We all have known that the RNC was not going to be the main event of the season, we all knew it was going to be the DNC,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, one of the lead organizers. “Our folks in Chicago are hoping it’s going to be a lead to our action.”
Chicago police have also been preparing with additional training.
Milwaukee Police Chief Norman had some advice for law enforcement gearing up for the DNC.
“Get lots of sleep, drink lots of water,” Norman said. “Make sure you understand your roles.”
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Associated Press Writer Jake Offenhartz contributed to this report.
Workers put up fences near the Republican National Convention location on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, in downtown Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman speaks outside of the Milwaukee Police Department on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wis. (AP Photo/Rio Yamat)
Omar Flores poses for a picture in Zeidler Union Square Monday, July 1, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Executive Director of Voces de la Frontera Christine Neumann-Ortiz poses for a picture in her office Monday, July 1, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
Workers putting up fences near the Republican National Convention location on Wednesday, July 10, 2024, in downtown Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)
Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman speaks outside of the Milwaukee Police Department on Wednesday, July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wis. (AP Photo/Rio Yamat)
WINDER, Ga. (AP) — The 14-year-old suspect in a shooting that killed four people at a Georgia high school and his father, who was arrested for allowing his son to have a weapon, will stay in custody after their lawyers decided not to seek bail Friday.
Colt Gray, who has been charged with four counts of murder, is accused of using a semiautomatic assault-style rifle to kill two fellow students and two teachers Wednesday at Apalachee High School in Winder, outside Atlanta. His father, Colin Gray, faces related charges in the latest attempt by prosecutors to hold parents responsible for their children’s actions in school shootings.
The two appeared in back-to-back hearings Friday morning with about 50 onlookers in the courtroom, where workers had set out boxes of tissue along the benches, in addition to members of the media and sheriff’s deputies. Some victims' family members in the front row hugged each other and one woman clutched a stuffed animal.
During his hearing, Colt Gray, wearing khaki pants and a green shirt, was advised of his rights as well as the charges and penalties he faced for the shooting at the school where he was a student.
After the hearing, he was escorted out in shackles at the wrists and ankles. The judge then called the teen back to the courtroom to correct an earlier misstatement that his crimes could be punishable by death. Because he’s a juvenile, the maximum penalty he would face is life without parole. The judge also set another hearing for Dec. 4.
Shortly afterward, Colin Gray was brought into court dressed in a gray-striped jail uniform. Colin Gray, 54, was charged Thursday in connection with the shooting and answered questions in a barely audible croak, giving his age and saying he finished 11th grade, earning a high school equivalency diploma.
Colin Gray has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and second-degree murder related to the shooting, Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said.
“His charges are directly connected with the actions of his son and allowing him to possess a weapon,” Hosey said.
The charges come five months after Michigan parents Jennifer and James Crumbley were the first convicted in a U.S. mass school shooting. They were sentenced to at least 10 years in prison for not securing a firearm at home and acting indifferently to signs of their son’s deteriorating mental health before he killed four students in 2021. The Georgia shootings have also renewed debate about safe storage laws for guns and have parents wondering how to talk to their children about school shootings and trauma.
The Barrow County hearings for the father and son came as police in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody said schools there and nationwide have received threats of violence since the Apalachee High School shooting, police said in a statement. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation also noted that numerous threats have been made to schools across the state this week.
Before Colin Gray’s arrest was reported, the AP knocked on the door of a home listed as his address seeking comment about his son’s arrest.
According to arrest warrants obtained by The Associated Press, Colt Gray is accused of using a “black semi-automatic AR-15 style rifle” to kill the two students and two teachers. Authorities have not offered any motive or explained how he obtained the gun or got it into the school.
He was charged as an adult in the deaths of Mason Schermerhorn and Christian Angulo, both 14, Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Cristina Irimie, 53. Nine people were also hurt in Wednesday’s attack.
A neighbor remembered Schermerhorn as inquisitive when he was a little boy. Aspinwall and Irimie were both math teachers, and Aspinwall also helped coach the school's football team. Irimie, who immigrated from Romania, volunteered at a local church, where she taught dance.
Colt Gray denied threatening to carry out a school shooting when authorities interviewed him last year about a menacing post on social media, according to a sheriff’s report obtained Thursday. Conflicting evidence on the post’s origin left investigators unable to arrest anyone, the report said. Jackson County Sheriff Janis Mangum said she reviewed the report from May 2023 and found nothing that would have justified bringing charges at the time.
The attack was the latest among dozens of school shootings across the U.S. in recent years, including especially deadly ones in Newtown, Connecticut; Parkland, Florida; and Uvalde, Texas. The classroom killings have set off fervent debates about gun control but there has been little change to national gun laws.
It was the 30th mass killing in the U.S. so far this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 127 people have died in those killings, which are defined as events in which four or more people die within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same definition used by the FBI.
Martin reported from Atlanta. Associated Press journalists Charlotte Kramon, Sharon Johnson, Mike Stewart and Erik Verduzco in Winder; Trenton Daniel and Beatrice Dupuy in New York; Eric Tucker in Washington; Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; Kate Brumback in Atlanta; and Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, contributed to this report.
Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, 14, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Colt Gray, charged as an adult with four counts of murder, sits in the Barrow County courthouse during his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, 14, sits in the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, 14, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, 14, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooter Colt Gray, 14, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Barrow County Superior Court Judge Currie Mingledorff II speaks during a first appearance of Colt Gray at the Barrow County courthouse for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Colt Gray departs the Barrow County courthouse during his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Colt Gray leaves the the Barrow County courthouse after his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Colt Gray, left, sits in the Barrow County courthouse during his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Colt Gray leaves the the Barrow County courthouse after his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Colt Gray, charged as an adult with four counts of murder, sits in the Barrow County courthouse during his first appearance for the Wednesday shooting at Apalachee High School, Friday, Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, Pool)
Mourners pray during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Mourners pray during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
People leave Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A medical helicopter is seen in front of Apalachee High School after a shooting at the school Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Students and parents walk off campus at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Mourners hold candles during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A family leaves a memorial where the American and state of Georgia flags fly half-staff after a shooting Wednesday at Apalachee High School, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Mourners pray during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Parents walk their child out of Apalachee High School after a shooting at the school Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Mourners listen to a speaker during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Chimain Douglas, of Grayson, Ga., cries near Apalachee High School as she mourns for the slain students and teachers on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
The rental home of Colt Gray, the 14-year-old suspect who has been charged as an adult with murder in the shootings Wednesday, Sept. 4., at Apalachee High School, is shown Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
This booking image provided by the Barrow County, Ga., Sheriff's Office shows Colt Gray, the 14-year-old suspect who has been charged as an adult with murder in the shootings Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga. (Barrow County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Brandy Rickaba and her daughter Emilie pray during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Mark Gorman holds a candle during a candlelight vigil for the slain students and teachers at Apalachee High School, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Chimain Douglas, of Grayson, Ga., kneels near Apalachee High School as she mourns for the slain students and teachers on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Linda Carter, of Grayson, Ga., kneels near Apalachee High School to place flowers as she mourns for the slain students and teachers on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
The American and state of Georgia flags fly half-staff after a shooting Wednesday at Apalachee High School, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
A student weeps at a makeshift memorial after a shooting Wednesday at Apalachee High School, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Two students view a memorial as the flags fly half-staff after a shooting Wednesday at Apalachee High School, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
People embrace at a makeshift memorial after a shooting Wednesday at Apalachee High School, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024, in Winder, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
