TODAY'S TMJ4

Sentencing for Shooter, Victim Pursues Career In Law Enforcement

By George Mallet with Jay Olstad

SOUTH MILWAUKEE - An armed robber with a long criminal history was scheduled to receive his sentence Thursday afternoon after shooting a man in Bay View.

The victim, Evan Olson, was seriously injured, but he has battled back, and the shooting has put his life on a new path.

Tears fill Stacey Olson’s eyes when she recalls the phone call she had to make to her husband’s firehouse on the morning of November 14th.

“My husband got on the phone,” she says haltingly. “I had to say ‘Evan’s been shot. Get here quick.’”

Only a few hours had passed since Stacey’s son Evan was gunned down in the heart of Bay View.

He intervened when his girlfriend was being attacked outside his apartment by longtime criminal Victor Ortiz.

He was able to knock the 240 pound Ortiz to the ground, but Ortiz came up shooting.

A single bullet pierced Olson’s lower abdomen, doing catastrophic damage.

“I just thought the guy was gone,” says Mike Ranic who witnessed the frantic work of blood-soaked paramedics after the shooting.

Olson was transported to Froedtert Hospital where doctors worked heroically to save him.

Eryn Olson still gets choked up when she talks about seeing her big brother sliced open and hooked to intravenous tubes in his hospital bed.

“My parents told me to try and stay really strong and not cry in front of him,” she says emotionally. “But I couldn’t.”

Remarkably, Olson recovered from his gunshot wound following surgeries to remove part of one kidney and a large section of his intestines. The experience and a desire to give back have now prompted him to pursue a career in law enforcement.

“I’m really proud of him,” says his mother.

Thursday, Ortiz will be sentenced in a Milwaukee courtroom. Stacey Olson wonders why this day didn’t come sooner.

“A dozen times in Chicago he’s been arrested,” she says. “He’s a prior felon. He has been arrested a couple of times in Milwaukee. He should not be on the streets.”

The Olson family will be in court Thursday for Ortiz’s sentencing.