Man Accused of Bringing Gun to UWM Library Had Open Charge for Prior Campus Incident

“We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to have these conversations in the context of gross negligence rather than mass death” – Abigail Nye, UWM library archivist

Just over a year before Elmo Daniels was accused of loading a gun in UW-Milwaukee’s Golda Meir Library on March 16, he was banned from the Student Union for allegedly harassing and threatening staff members, Media Milwaukee has exclusively learned.

Although Daniels was accused of threatening to punch a staff member and allegedly made comments about needing “more bullets” for his gun during the earlier December 2021 incident, Daniels was only banned from the Student Union, not the campus at large, according to the criminal complaint and UWM’s police chief. He never saw the inside of a courtroom until he was arrested again for the library incident in March.

Daniels’ 2021 incident is the latest safety concern of Golda Meir Library staff.  

Daniels’ most recent incident happened at the library on Thursday, March 16, but library staff weren’t informed about the situation until the following day, and the rest of students and staff weren’t notified until the following Monday. The university didn’t send out any campus alerts on the day of the incident. 

Despite the earlier charge, he wasn’t banned from the rest of UWM’s campus until after his most recent arrest at the library, the chief, David Salazar, told Media Milwaukee.

“Daniels was originally banned from the Union on Dec. 21, 2021. He was banned from campus on March 21, 2023,” Salazar said.

Daniels was ordered to go to court via a summons – a document that orders a person to appear in court – but failed to make an appearance after the first incident, which wasn’t charged until August 2022. A warrant for his arrest was issued, but he was only handed paperwork again, asking him to return to court at a later date, but he didn’t show up once more, court records show. Even when the warrant was cleared, court records show he was just given another summons, which he ignored. 

The Milwaukee Police Association has previously spoken out against the practice, saying officers are no longer allowed to arrest on many misdemeanor warrants because the jail won’t book them.

That all meant that Daniels remained free on the streets for more than a year after the first allegations occurred – to allegedly reoffend on the same campus. 

In fact, Daniels did not appear in court for the first incident until months later – after he was arrested for allegedly loading a gun in the library, records show. 

According to Salazar, Daniels was arrested for disorderly conduct in the earlier incident, and his conditions of pretrial release were set.

“Those conditions included no possession of dangerous weapons or firearms, as well as no contact with his victim,” said Salazar. 

Despite this first incident occurring in December 2021, however, court records reveal that Daniels’ pretrial release conditions were not activated until after he was arrested for his recent library incident in March. 

Even now, Daniels is out on signature bond for both incidents even though he’s already been accused of violating pretrial supervision, according to court records. 

Abigail Nye, a reference and instruction archivist at the library, was working at her desk on the day of the incident, directly below where Daniels was allegedly seen loading a gun. 

“I see this as a failure in communication on multiple levels,” explained Nye. “The fact that we had this incident, and we didn’t have a Rave alert or institute emergency protocols is a huge failure on the part of the police department.”  

The Rave app is UWM’s Emergency Alert Program, where students and staff are notified via text message of campus emergencies, including criminal activity that poses an immediate and significant threat to life, health or property to the campus community. 

Furthermore, Media Milwaukee has learned, an account under Elmo Daniels’ name on Facebook includes pictures of his mugshots, as well as multiple pictures of a man posing with guns. 

Zack Cowell, UWM senior and film major, first learned of the incident at the library through social media. 

“The response was way too delayed,” said Cowell. “If the incident was resolved in minutes, why weren’t students notified immediately?”  

By the time UWM Police were notified of the incident, Salazar determined that there wasn’t an active threat to the campus community. 

“Once UWM Police were notified about Elmo Daniels being seen with a gun, they quickly determined Daniels was no longer on campus and there was no threat, so no alert was issued,” Salazar said. “We made these determinations by using video to survey the scene and track Daniels leaving campus between the time he was first seen and the time police were notified.” 

March 2023 Incident

On March 16, Daniels was allegedly seen loading a gun in UWM’s Golda Meir Library. A student who witnessed Daniels with the gun alerted a staff member who then called UWM Police, according to criminal complaint.  

Police arrived at the library minutes later, but by the time they were notified of Daniels, he had already allegedly left the library. Police used video surveillance and a description of Daniels to track him down on North Avenue, where he was taken into custody, according to a university statement.  

The criminal complaint states that when Daniels was arrested, police found “a firearm loaded with a round in the chamber and a magazine in the magazine well,” along with pills in a fanny pack. 

Daniels said he was in the library to, “do drugs in the back,” and “use the wi-fi,” the complaint says. He admitted to having multiple firearms, but when prosecutors asked how many, he responded, “A lot, but that’s none of your business,” according to criminal complaint. 

Daniels was charged with two Class A misdemeanors: “carrying a concealed weapon” and “carrying firearm in a public building,” according to Salazar. 

According to Salazar, a judge set his bail conditions in the second case to include no contact with the entirety of UWM, to possess no firearms or dangerous weapons and to be monitored by JusticePoint under their highest level of supervision. 

Library staff member Lauren Kathryn Nicole Jones was in the library the day of the incident.

“I saw the police running around, and I immediately checked my phone, checked the Rave app, checked my text messages, checked my emails,” said Jones. “Nothing from the university about anything.” 

Nye was also concerned as to why surrounding schools, like Hartford Elementary School, weren’t notified of Daniels’ presence if UWM Police knew that he left campus.  

“I’m the mother of a Hartford student, and Hartford was not notified of this either,” said Nye. “So, me chatting with the Hartford staff, they said ‘Well if we’d known about this, we could’ve at least left the kids inside.’ I’m upset about this on a number of levels.”  

Nye felt traumatized by the situation, and said she was struggling to function for a couple of weeks.

“Trust was broken, and until the campus gets an apology, it’ll be very difficult to move forward,” said Nye. “We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to have these conversations in the context of gross negligence rather than mass death.”  

On the Monday that the university sent out details of the incident to students and staff, the UWM Police held a meeting with library staff to discuss the incident and an overview of crime that impacts the area around campus.  

Library staff requested safety training, which took place on April 12.  

December 2021 Incident

In August 2022, Daniels was charged with disorderly conduct after allegedly causing a disturbance in UWM’s Student Union in December 2021. It’s not clear why the charge was so delayed.

According to criminal complaint, Daniels would ask a Student Union staff member for candy, and he would, “yell fire and rape and pull the fire alarm if she refused to give him more.”  

The Student Union manager was notified, and when she asked him to leave, Daniels allegedly would move towards her and threaten to punch her in the face, the criminal complaint says. 

Daniels went to the second-floor exit of the Student Union to smoke a cigarette, where a custodian allegedly overheard him say “You don’t want my friends to come here,” and he mumbled something about a gun, according to criminal complaint. 

Daniels admitted to police that he was on the phone with his “guy” and talked about needing more bullets, the criminal complaint says. 

According to Salazar, Daniels was charged with disorderly conduct, and his conditions of pretrial release were set, which he ultimately did not abide by when he was accused of bringing a gun into UWM’s library.  However, court records show the no contact/no gun order in the earlier case was not initiated until March 17, 2023.

Nye believes that UWM would benefit from creating a campus task force to examine and revise safety and emergency protocols across campus. 

“It’s important that whatever task force is put together to address this, it’s co-created by the campus and includes student input,” said Nye. “We need better training, and we need better protocols. The way we’re going to get that is by holding our leaders accountable.”