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Mayor Barrett, Police Chief Flynn breakdown the city worker murder from start to arrest

Five are in custody
Posted at 10:20 PM, Mar 24, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-24 23:20:10-04

A break in the case of the Milwaukee city worker killed on the job with five people arrested in the case, and they are mostly teens.

Police said a detail in the crime helped them quickly catch the suspects that same day.

Greg Zyszkiewicz, a Department of Neighborhood Services worker, was found dead in his car Wednesday, and it sent police scrambling.

"We didn't have any eyewitnesses to it," said Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn.

"I stood there and I wondered how in god's name are we going to catch the person or persons who committed this crime," said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

The mayor said he realized behind the scenes police were quickly putting things together.

"Even when we were standing st that scene Milwaukee police officers were communicating with each other about other events that were occurring near that site," Barrett said.

"This sequences of events was extremely dynamic. They basically depended that we quickly surmised  based on the physical evidence that he had been the victim of a shotgun," Flynn said.

That shotgun became the key because Flynn said a crime analyst remembered one was used earlier that day for a carjacking. It would  be the second car stolen that day that police found from the group.  Police believe that's what the suspects were after in Zyszkiewicz's murder.

"It's clearly an attempted carjacking," Flynn said.

They caught five people ranging in ages from 16 to 21 years old. Three are facing potential homicide charges. Flynn said this group was looking for their next target, as Zyszkiewicz was working in his car.

"They were driving around on the lookout for other victims," Flynn said.

The group has not yet been charged. The case is currently with the district attorney's office. 

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