MILWAUKEE (AP) - Friends, family and city officials gathered for the dedication of a monument honoring a Milwaukee city inspector who was killed on duty during an attempted carjacking.
Greg “Ziggy” Zyszkiewicz, 64, was found fatally shot in his car March 22 while he was working in a Milwaukee neighborhood.
Mayor Tom Barrett and other city officials attended the ceremony on Tuesday, which would have been Zyszkiewicz’s 65th birthday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported .
A boulder features a plaque with his name and sits across from a bench in front of the Department of Neighborhood Services’ Lake Tower on the city’s south side.
Zyszkiewicz threw an annual birthday party he called “Ziggy Fest,” and the tradition has continued.
“It’s bittersweet,” said his wife, Olha Zyszkiewicz. “I’d much rather have Greg here celebrating ’Ziggy Fest.’ This was a big deal of a day.”
Department of Neighborhood Services commissioner Preston Cole said the slogan “Ziggy Strong” will be embroidered onto shirts for any department employee who wants one.
“This is our commitment to Olha and her family: to never, ever forget Ziggy,” he said.
Deshaun Scott and Qhualun Shaw, both 17, and Eric J. Smiley Jr., 21, have been charged in Zyszkiewicz’s death. Scott is charged with first-degree reckless homicide, while Shaw and Smiley are charged with felony murder.
Smiley is scheduled to stand trial on Sept. 11. Shaw will have a status conference on Oct. 10, the same day of Scott’s jury trial.
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Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, https://www.jsonline.com
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