MILWAUKEE (WITI) — Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn announced during a press conference on Thursday afternoon, July 24th a 39-year-old man is in custody in connection with the shooting of two young children Wednesday night near 36th and Hadley.
The shooting happened just before 7:15 p.m. Wednesday.
Chief Flynn says the 39-year-old suspect was on probation at the time of the shooting, and was just recently released from prison.
Police spent the day Thursday looking for the suspect — and were eventually able to take him into custody in violation of probation charges.
Chief Flynn says the man was in a van with a woman and seven children between the ages of two and 11.
Chief Flynn says the man got into some sort of altercation with others in the neighborhood near 36th and Hadley, and that’s when a gun battle ensued.
Two children — a 10-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl were struck by gunfire, and injured.
The children were transported to the hospital by their mother.
The children are said to have suffered non life-threatening injuries. They were still in the hospital Thursday.
Chief Flynn said Thursday the children’s mother had just gotten custody of her children — after losing them due to child abuse.
Chief Flynn said the city of Milwaukee’s Department of Neighborhood Services went to the children’s home on Thursday to check it — and the city has decided to condemn the home, due to cockroaches and bed bugs.
Chief Flynn said where this shooting happened, MPD’s District 7, includes over 100,000 people.
“Too many people are being shot, and far too many children are being shot. No community should tolerate that or accept that as normal,” Chief Flynn said.
Chief Flynn says District 7 is just one are afflicted by high rates of crime.
“Remorseless, reckless criminals in possession of firearms shooting at each other — and they don’t care who they hit. Just because these people are scary, just because they carry guns, does not make them men. This year, MPD, in a city of 600,000, has seized 1,340 firearms from the streets of this city,” Chief Flynn said.
During the press conference, Chief Flynn announced police will have a high presence in the area where this shooting occurred — for the next four days, in an effort to help neighbors feel comfortable enjoying being outdoors on beautiful summer days — “to give these people a taste of life in the suburbs.”
“We will do our best to recreate the environment of the suburbs — to see people on their front porches and in their front yards. We have community partners in the faith community and on the streets of this city standing against this violence,” Chief Flynn said.
Mayor Barrett joined Chief Flynn in his news conference — and spoke about the people in the neighborhood where this shooting occurred — calling what happened Wednesday night “insane,” and again asking for the assistance of Governor Scott Walker and the Legislature in getting illegal guns off the streets.
“Children in this neighborhood deserve a safe neighborhood. There are a lot of good people in this low-income neighborhood. We need to make sure people in every neighborhood in this city can play outside on a gorgeous day like today. What happened (Wednesday) night was once again, insane. Any man who gets in a vehicle with seven children and decides to get in a gun battle is a coward. This is the insanity we are dealing with — with individuals who have access to illegal guns,” Mayor Barrett said.
