A six-year veteran of the Milwaukee Police Department has died three days after being shot in an alleyway while responding to reports of a man firing a weapon on the city’s west side. Officer Kendall Corder was 32 years old.
During a press conference just after 6 p.m. Sunday, Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman announced officer Corder’s passing before officers, city officials and residents walked in a silent procession from Froedtert Hospital to the city’s Medical Examiner’s office.
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Norman asked for the public to send prayers to Corder’s immediate family and “his other extended family, his brothers and sisters of the Milwaukee Police Department.”
“At this moment, we all are in pain,” Norman said. “We have lost someone who loved his career, who looked forward to being part of the work to impact public safety in our community.”
Corder and his 29-year-old partner, Christopher McCray, were shot Thursday night after 9:22 p.m. while responding to “a subject with a weapon firing shots near the area of North 25th Street and West Garfield Avenue, according to the MPD. The officers were not able to return fire after being hit.
Both men were transported to the hospital. Corder sustained life-threatening injuries and was listed in critical condition. McCray received non-fatal injuries and was listed in stable condition.
On Friday, the department announced the 22-year-old man suspected of shooting the officers was arrested without incident at 2:15 a.m.
During Sunday’s announcement, Mayor Cavalier Johnson said members of Corder’s family told him he “died doing what he loved to do, protecting and serving the people of Milwaukee.
“I think it’s incumbent upon all of us to realize that Milwaukee police officers, they swear an oath to protect and serve our community from the beginning to the end,” Johnson said. “From the beginning to the end, that’s exactly what officer Corder did. I respect that, and I think the vast majority of people in our city respect that and appreciate that too.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Kendall Corder’s name and add the name if his partner.
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