| By Big Radio News Staff |

Beloit police Chief Andre Sayles says his police department has launched an internal investigation after a Beloit officer shot their gun at a man and missed while trying to apprehend him last week on the city’s west side.

Police have not addressed whether the officer is on leave pending the police-involved shooting, which authorities say happened the afternoon of May 29 in the 800 block of Oak Street. Police say 34-year-old Thomas Sykes of Beloit was sprinting at an officer at the time, and wouldn’t stop.

Sayles has declined to speak directly with Big Radio News about the incident or the investigation. Wednesday was the first day since the shooting happened a week ago that police have directly acknowledged a Beloit officer shot at Sykes.

Sayles said in a short, written statement Wednesday that the officer shot one bullet at Skyes and missed. Sayles says Sykes was running at the officer in an “aggressive manner,” and would not stop — even after the officer told him several times to stay still.

A Rock County District Attorney’s criminal complaint released in a jail hearing for Sykes late last week includes details of the incident that police still haven’t laid out publicly. The officer, identified as a female with one year’s experience on the Beloit police department, fired a shot and missed. The complaint for Sykes says the officer lost her footing on a sloping side yard after she shot her gun, but afterward, she pointed the muzzle of her gun at the ground and continued to issue commands to Sykes.

Witnesses at the scene said Sykes went down after the officer fired the shot, but that he popped back up and appeared unharmed. Police say he later resisted officers at the scene as they tried to cuff him. Sykes was checked out for injuries and then booked in jail.

Police had tried to apprehend Sykes after witnesses reported he’d run into an acquaintance’s home while acting erratically, pushed a child down, then took off down the street, where Sykes tried to grab hold of another resident he didn’t know.

Sykes is in jail for counts of child abuse, resisting police, and disorderly conduct. Witnesses say he’d been wandering around the neighborhood waving and shaking his hands and acting strangely the afternoon of May 29.

Police say they had on body cams during the incident as Sykes rushed at the Beloit officer who then shot at him. Sayles says investigators began reviewing the shooting at the scene shortly after it occurred. The internal review continues.

The police department did not immediately respond to a followup inquiry by WCLO Wednesday afternoon on whether the officer who shot at Sykes has been placed on leave or if she remains on regular, active duty.

Sayles said in his earlier statement that Beloit police will release more information when its investigation is complete.

It’s the second police-involved shooting in Beloit in two months, and it comes at a time when authorities across Rock County have been dealing with mounting violence in the streets and mounting cases of violent, domestic abuse, some involving gunfire.

WCLO News reporter/anchor Neil Johnson gathered information for this report.