MILWAUKEE _The man shot and killed by a Milwaukee police officer Saturday was charged last year in a shooting and then charged again, with trying to intimidate a witness in that same shooting.
The man shot by police was Sylville Smith, 23, police sources and Smith's family said.
Smith was charged with first-degree recklessly endangering safety and with witness intimidation, but the charges were dismissed, court records show.
The charges were dropped even though the prosecutors had recorded jail calls in which Smith asked his girlfriend to pressure the victim to recant, according to court records.
In the witness intimidation case, Smith was accused of pressuring the victim in a shooting to recant a statement identifying him as the suspect, according to the criminal complaint.
Prosecutors with the Milwaukee County district attorney's office were not available Sunday to explain why the charges were dismissed.
Milwaukee police say Smith was armed when he fled a traffic stop about 3:30 p.m. Saturday. An officer ordered Smith to drop his gun and when he did not, the officer fired and wounded the man in the chest and arm, according to Mayor Tom Barrett.
Mildred Haynes, Smith's mother, said police have told her very little so far about the death of her son, who is a father to a 2-year-old boy.
"My son is gone due to the police killing my son," she said Sunday. "I am lost."
Smith's mother, Haynes, said her son had recently obtained a concealed-carry license because he had been shot twice and robbed four times.
Haynes said she last saw her son about 12:30 p.m. Saturday when he and another man were stopped by police. She said she missed a call from him at 3 p.m., when she thinks he was being chased by police.
She said she called him back, but he didn't answer. She then got a call from someone who told her what was happening. She said she raced over to the shooting scene but couldn't find out what was going on.
"They wouldn't let me see him," she said of police.
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(Rick Romell and John Diedrich contributed to this report.)
