MILWAUKEE — A 7-year-old child was shot in Milwaukee's Washington Park neighbourhood in the early hours of Halloween, and a 16-year-old is in custody in connection with the shooting, the Milwaukee Police Department said. The shooting happened at about 1:15 a.m. on Saturday, October 31, in the 2200 block of North 41st Street. The 7-year-old suffered gunshot injuries and was taken to a local hospital for treatment; police have not released the child's condition. Officers have not said what led to the shooting. It is the second shooting of a young Milwaukee child in less than a week, and police used the announcement to repeat a direct appeal: keep firearms out of children's hands, and properly store and secure them.
Source: TMJ4 News (WTMJ), Milwaukee police
What police have — and have not — said
The official account is short. Milwaukee police said the shooting occurred around 1:15 a.m. in the 2200 block of North 41st Street, in the Washington Park neighbourhood on the city's northwest side; that the 7-year-old was wounded and taken to a local hospital; that a 16-year-old is in custody in connection with the shooting; and that the department did not say what led to it. Police said they continue to investigate the circumstances and will refer criminal charges to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office — the step that will decide what the 16-year-old, whose name has not been released, is formally accused of. In line with the rule for minor victims, Awaaz Punjab identifies both children by age and city only.
Source: TMJ4 News (WTMJ), Milwaukee police
Less than a week earlier, on Saturday, October 24, a 4-year-old girl was shot dead in a home just north of 53rd and Center — the 2700 block of North 53rd Street — shortly before 9 a.m. Milwaukee police said a 6-year-old obtained a firearm inside the home and fired it, striking the 4-year-old, who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office. A 16-year-old sibling was taken into custody in that case for possessing a firearm. Awaaz Punjab's earlier report on that shooting is linked here; the Halloween shooting on 41st Street is a separate, new incident, and police have not linked the two cases beyond their timing and their subject — children and guns inside Milwaukee homes. Read the earlier report
"How does a 7-year-old get shot?" — neighbours speak
In the Washington Park neighbourhood, the reaction was grief turning quickly into a demand aimed at gun owners. "How does a 7-year-old get shot?" neighbour Tony Hopson asked TMJ4. "I don't know what the circumstances were, but it doesn't make a difference." Hopson said the shootings reach beyond the families involved: "It does impact the neighborhood, believe it or not. Our neighborhoods, our community is close-knit." He argued the answer is resources as much as enforcement — gun safety education, city leaders helping distribute gun locks and offering firearm safety classes. "Instead of more policing, I think we need more solutions, more resources for the people," he said. "From the mayor, all the way down to the garbage truck man: At what point do we come together?" Neighbour Tarrance Collins noted that on Halloween, a night when neighbours expected streets full of trick-or-treating children, those children were not visible: "I would love to see kids out here trick-or-treating, but you don't see any of that." His message to gun owners was blunt: "If you're a gun owner, just do right by the community. Lock your gun up, keep it in a case, get a trigger lock."
Source: TMJ4 News (WTMJ)
Background: the October 24 case is already in court
The case that hangs over this one began on the morning of Saturday, October 24, near North 53rd Street and West Center Street. Police said the 6-year-old got hold of a firearm inside the home and shot the 4-year-old; her family told TMJ4 the children had been playing "cops and robbers" when they got hold of the gun, and said the family believed the firearm had been stored securely and did not know how the children accessed it. A 16-year-old sibling was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm. Court reporting since then says a Milwaukee County court commissioner ordered the 16-year-old to remain in custody; that investigators found a second firearm in the home which had been hidden but was not properly locked; that juvenile court records identify the teenager only by initials and allege he knew his siblings had been playing with a gun — an allegation that has not been proven in court; and that police are not seeking additional suspects in that case. Criminal charges in the October 24 case were likewise referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office.
Source: Focal News / TMJ4 News
What is solid
- A 7-year-old was shot at about 1:15 a.m. on Oct. 31 in the 2200 block of North 41st Street, Milwaukee, and taken to hospital; a 16-year-old is in custody in connection with the shooting — Milwaukee police via TMJ4 and Particle News
- Police have not said what led to the Halloween shooting, and charges in it will be referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office
- On Oct. 24, a 4-year-old was killed in a Milwaukee home near 53rd and Center after a 6-year-old obtained a firearm, and a 16-year-old sibling was taken into custody in that case — Milwaukee police and the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner via TMJ4
What is only claimed
- How the children in the October 24 home accessed the firearm: the family said it believed the gun was stored securely and did not know how they got it, while court records say a second firearm found in the home was hidden but not properly locked — the full circumstances remain before the juvenile court
- The allegation in juvenile records that the 16-year-old in the October 24 case knew his siblings had been playing with a gun: reported from court records, not proven in court
- What led to the Halloween shooting on 41st Street, and the 7-year-old's medical condition: neither has been released by police
Announcing the Halloween shooting, the Milwaukee Police Department reminded the public to keep firearms out of children's hands and to properly store and secure them. Neighbours in Washington Park made the same point in stronger language: lock the gun up, keep it in a case, use a trigger lock.
What happens next
Two Milwaukee cases involving children and guns are now moving on parallel tracks. In the Halloween case, the investigation continues and the file goes to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office, which will decide charges against the 16-year-old in custody; the 7-year-old's condition has not been publicly updated. In the October 24 case, the 16-year-old sibling remains in the juvenile system, where proceedings are largely closed and names are not released. Particle News, summarising the week, notes that city figures show overall nonfatal shootings and homicides down year to year in Milwaukee — which is precisely why two children shot in seven days has landed so hard in Washington Park: the trend line is improving, and it did not protect either of these children.
Source: Particle News