Man struck, killed after walking away from assisted living group home

Jesse Garza
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A 65-year-old man fatally struck by a car after walking away from an assisted living group home on Milwaukee's northwest side was identified Thursday as Alan Schmitz.

Schmitz was struck shortly before 6 a.m. Feb. 15 at N. 68th St. and W. Capitol Drive, near Agape Supportive Living Services, where he had lived since February 2015, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office.

The facility specializes in care for the advanced aged, developmentally disabled, emotionally disturbed, mentally ill and people with irreversible dementia and Alzheimer's, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Among his illnesses, Schmitz had a history of encephalopathy — progressive loss of memory and cognitive ability — and was unable to care for himself, according to a medical examiner's report.

An Agape employee said Schmitz had never left the home before and that staff were unaware he was a flight risk, the report said.

However, a relative said he was told there had been alarms on the facility's doors because Schmitz was a flight risk, according to the report.

In January 2017, Tanya A. Valentin, 36, died when she fell out a second-story window of another group home run by Agape Supportive Living Services at 4104 N. 63rd St.