MILWAUKEE — Ed Hennings sold drugs and killed a man on Milwaukee’s northwest side and served twenty years of a forty year sentence. How did Hennings turn his life around? WTMJ’s Libby Collins discovers Henning’s story of going from criminal to respectable on this week’s WTMJ Conversations. Listen in the player above.
A partial transcript is provided below, courtesy of eCourt Reporters.
ED HENNINGS: The day this happened, a relative of mine got jumped by a couple guys in the community, according to his recollection of what happened. So, he came and got me, and I said I know some of the guys that be out there. So, we walked over there, me and him, and I began the same routine that I always go through, “Hey, man, is everything all right?” And it was me and him, and it was about 10 to 15 other people, and I just began to ask those questions, like, “What’s going on, man, everything okay?” Never raised my voice, went after anybody, just trying to do what I normally do: I straighten these type of things out.
So, my relative, he began to argue with a couple of guys that was in the yard, he was starting to say, “Hey, man, you guys jumped on me and I didn’t appreciate that.”
LIBBY COLLINS: I don’t think he used those words, right?
ED HENNINGS: Yeah, he didn’t use those words.
LIBBY COLLINS: Right. Okay.
ED HENNINGS: And they began to say right back at ’em, like, “Whatever. What is to it?” So, as I was getting this thing under control, three other guys showed up and they didn’t look too happy about us being there. My street senses kicked in, I said, “Oh, wow, this is not going to be good.” They were coming fast, and I was just like, “Hey, can you tell those guys that we’re not here for any trouble?” Nobody said a word. And I’m thinking to myself, “Oh, my goodness.”
So, once again, my street senses kick in, I stick my hand in my pocket where I carry my gun at, and I put my hand on it. And the guys came up, one guy went straight up to my relative and he got nose to nose with him. You could see them jawing back and forth, you could just see spit coming out of both of them’s mouths and the tension is high.
The altercation ensued with the guy that was in front of the relative of mine, his hand went up under his shirt. And at that moment, I pulled out the gun and I pushed my relative out of the way and I shot my gun two times.
