Guest Column

The Death of Wilbert Javier Prado

By Roberto Miranda

May 2, 2005

On a cold and dank night in early March, the lives of two young children forever changed when their father, a 25 year undocumented Mexican, was gunned down in a hail of bullets coming out of the .45 caliber pistol owned by off-duty Milwaukee Police officer, Alfonso Glover.

In what had to have been the most horror filled event of his life, before his death, Wilbert Prado found himself being shot at by an individual claiming to be a police officer.

Wilbert Prado spoke very little English. Wilbert Prado was unarmed. His death makes no sense at all.

Why did Glover feel he had to mercilessly unload more than two magazines of .45 caliber rounds on Wilbert Javier Prado? What possible reason could Glover have for unloading eight rounds into the body of Wilbert Prado?

Glover states that he felt his life was in danger. Glover alleges that Prado attempted to do bodily harm to Glover by using his vehicle as a weapon to attack Glover. From what the reports that have been released so far state, the van that Prado drove was struck by 10 rounds. Prado was hit with eight of Glover’s bullets. 18 rounds I count here. What about those bullets that went astray as Glover shot at Prado while giving chase down the ally Prado eventually died in? And the two I counted lodged in the wall of the garage where Prado’s body was found?

When you consider that a .45 caliber pistol can hold a maximum of eight bullets; seven in the magazine and one in the gun well, it appears that Glover was able to load and fire, unload, load and fire and unload and load to fire again. With all of this loading and firing and loading and firing and loading and firing, didn’t it dawn on Glover that he wasn’t being fired upon?

I mean, Glover states that he thought Prado had a gun on him. We know that Prado did not have a gun, or a least one was not found on the scene at all. So after the first few shots, should Glover have practiced a bit of restraint, take a little cover pause and reevaluate the situation before moving in for the kill? What kind of tactics is the Milwaukee Police Academy training police cadet? Shoot first and ask questions later?

Before he was killed and left lying on the cold dirt ground in an ally on 9th and Ohio, Wilbert Prado must have thought to himself that this was not happening. As the bullets hit his body, one could only imagine the fear and anguish Wilbert Prado was feeling as each round hit him and burned inside him. Wounds oozing blood and flesh cooking from the heat of the bullets Glover fired.

Wilbert Prado is dead. He will never be physically by his children as they grow up. He will never celebrate a birthday again with them. He will never physically be at their school graduation.

His children will never be able to hold their father in their arms again.

And Glover? What about the off-duty cop who took the life of Wilbert Javier Prado?

Well, he lives and breathes. He will wake up in the morning and feel the sun’s warm rays upon his face and enjoy the gift of life. A gift he took from Wilbert Javier Prado on that cold and dank night in early March.

-- Miranda is a national award-winning columnist, Latino community activist and columnist for the Milwaukee Spanish Journal. mailto:rmiranda@wi.rr.com