A MPD cruiser in the 6400 block of N. 73rd St. after 1-year-old boy was injured Saturday night when shots were fired into a home in the 6400 block of N. 73rd St. just before 6:30 p.m., police said Saturday night. The boy was conscious and breathing when he was taken to the hospital. Credit: Gitte Laasby

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A 1-year-old boy was killed Saturday night when someone fired several dozen shots from the street into a home on Milwaukee's northwest side.

The boy was conscious and breathing after the shooting but later died at the hospital, police said.

"I am extremely saddened to report that the 13-month-old little boy who was shot in the 6400 block of N. 73rd St. has died of his injuries. This is now a homicide investigation," Deputy Inspector Terrence Gordon said in a statement about 10:20 p.m.

The boy and his mother were visiting relatives in a duplex when shots were fired into the home just before 6:30 p.m., police said.

At the scene, Gordon said the child was the only person in the home struck by the gunfire.

He said it's not clear whether the house was targeted or whether a shooting occurred on the street and the house was sprayed with bullets in the process.

He noted police had not been called to the home before.

A neighbor, Taisha Southern, said she and her husband were new to the neighborhood and that they had never heard of any problems on their block.

Her husband was at home and she at work when the shooting occurred. "My husband called me and said they were shooting over here," she said.

Police are asking that anyone with any knowledge of the shooting or shooters to call (414) 935-7360.

The shooting follows two other recent incidents in which a child was injured or killed when someone shot into a house.

Milwaukee police are still trying to identify suspects or a motive in the fatal shooting of Laylah Petersen. The 5-year-old was killed while sitting on her grandfather's lap Nov. 6 after bullets were shot into a home near the corner of N. 58th St. and W. Fairmount Ave.

At the time, Mayor Tom Barrett said: "The whole city is grieving with the family." He called Laylah's death "an unspeakable tragedy."

Another 5-year-old girl was struck by debris after gunshots were fired into two homes on Christmas night, Milwaukee police said.

Police said several shots were fired into the two homes, both in the 2800 block of N. 17th St., about 7 p.m. Thursday.

No one was hit by the bullets. But the girl inside one of the homes was hit by debris, police said. No suspect was in custody.

Gordon said police tend to receive more tips in shootings with child victims and are surprised some remain unsolved.

The Milwaukee branch of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has offered a $5,000 reward for any information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the Laylah Petersen case.

Police have described that shooting as targeted because gunshots were found only on that home, not on others.

In another child homicide, a 19-year-old man this month was sentenced to 44 years in prison for slaying Sierra Guyton, 10, who was shot May 21 on a city playground and died July 13.