Charles S. Mehlberg, a 25-year-old White male, was a Milwaukee Police Department officer who had served on the force for nearly four years after previously working as a police aide. His death came after an armed robbery late on the night of December 22, 1981, led to a violent confrontation in Milwaukee that continued into December 23. The robbery occurred at Alfred’s House of Bourbon, where a 19-year-old man later identified as Robert Lee Collins entered the tavern, had a beer, then grabbed a
woman around the neck and held a gun to her head while announcing a robbery. As the bartender emptied the cash register, Collins fired at a patron, but no one was struck. He fled with approximately $200, several wallets and the woman’s purse.
Mehlberg and fellow Officer John A. Machajewski responded to the robbery and spotted the fleeing suspect running east along West Brown Street toward North 2nd Street. The officers left their squad car and pursued him on foot. Their pursuit carried them into an alley behind 210 West Brown Street, where police accounts say Collins positioned himself and ambushed the approaching officers. Both officers were shot, with contemporary reporting stating that they suffered gunshot wounds to the head. Machajewski was fatally wounded, while Mehlberg was rushed to Froedtert Hospital in critical condition. Mehlberg was placed on life support but died at approximately 5 p.m. on December 23.
After the officers were shot, Collins fled the alley armed with two handguns, one of them Mehlberg’s. 38-caliber service revolver. He entered a residence on West Lloyd Street, where a woman inside notified authorities. Police surrounded the house and called for the suspect to surrender. After a standoff lasting roughly 45 minutes, Collins emerged with his hands raised and was taken into custody without further violence. Contemporary reports described him as having an extensive police record, and police said he had recently been under observation following a suicide attempt.
Collins was initially held on $350,000 bail. Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann announced that prosecutors intended to charge him with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Mehlberg and Machajewski along with three counts of armed robbery connected to the events at the tavern. Police memorial records state that Collins had an extensive record before the killings and that a judge had described him in 1979 as a danger to the community. He was ultimately convicted of both murders and received two life sentences plus an additional 110 years of imprisonment.
Mehlberg’s killing and that of Machajewski had an immediate impact throughout Milwaukee. The two were the first Milwaukee officers killed in the line of duty since 1977, and their deaths became the catalyst for an extraordinary police walkout later on December 23 amid existing tensions between officers, city officials and parts of the community. For his actions in the line of duty, Mehlberg was posthumously awarded the Milwaukee Police Department Medal of Honor and a Class “A” Citation, the department’s highest honor.
