MILWAUKEE — Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor Tim Michels said someone attempted to break into a Kia in front of him during a live interview in Milwaukee.
In a video posted to Twitteron Thursday, Michels said he was doing a live interview with the media in Milwaukee. Across the street, he says someone smashed the window to a Kia parked on the street and attempted to hot wire the vehicle to steal it.
Michels claimed it happened in the middle of the day with the press and people around.
"The crime in Milwaukee has to stop," Michels says in the video. "This is what happens when you have weak leadership."
In his video, you can see a white Kia with a smashed window and shattered glass on the street.
"The bad guys are so emboldened, they're like 'I don't care if there's cameras around, people around, future governors around, I know I'm going to get away with it,'" Michels said.
In September, the National Insurance Crime Bureau's 'Hot Spot' reportfound Milwaukee experienced the largest change in vehicle theft rates in the country from 2020 to 2021. In 2021, nearly 10,500 cars were reported stolen in Milwaukee and police data shows only 11% of those thefts resulted in an arrest.
Most recently, eight cars were stolen from the same two-block stretch within the last two months in Milwaukee. It happened between Aug. 10 and Oct. 9 on the 6000-62000 block of W. Port Ave. on the city's north side.
You can watch Michels' video on his Twitter page or below:
Someone broke into a Kia and tried to steal it right in front of our press conference in Milwaukee. This is what happens when criminals feel emboldened by weak leadership. pic.twitter.com/YcSuZORBHp
— Tim Michels (@michelsforgov) October 13, 2022
