Myra_Sanchick's Blog

Sometimes when reporters go out on stories--the best stories can't be told for one reason or another.

Now with blogging I can tell a few others what most will never see.

The other day I did a report on a cop killer who shot a Milwaukee officer trying to stop a tavern robbery 33 years ago. That killer is now up for parole. Some of his family members joined Milwaukee Police union officials in a news conference, objecting to  the fact the killer could be set free.

The daughter of the slain officer was there, now an adult. She was very young at the time her father was killed. She did not want to be on tv. Neither did an older man who came to the news conference. He happened to be there when the officer was killed, sitting on the next barstool. The two met for the first time. They hugged. The officer's daughter wanted to hear about the night her father was killed. The man asked, "how much do you want to know?" She said,"everything". He proceeded to tell her step by step what happened, choking on his sobs as he got more and more into it. He told her how the officer was shot from a third suspect behind him, as he tried to stop two other robbers. The man told her how he and a few others grabbed bar rags to stop the bleeding.He told the officer's daughter that her father didn't suffer. He was unconcious.  I was next to the man as he told the story he held onto for the past 33 years. I hugged him too.

The story was an important one for the news. It went on the air with officials speaking, and another family member talking how important it is to keep the cop killer behind bars.

The story I'm telling our bloggers was not told that day. But it is one that really had an impact on me.