Spate of Milwaukee homicides have one thing in common — arguments that escalate into violence

Ashley Luthern | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Of the six homicides reported in Milwaukee in less than 48 hours, police say five of the killings were prompted by the same thing: an argument.

It's familiar problem facing the city.

For the past several years, about a quarter of Milwaukee's homicides have stemmed from an argument or fight. Nearly all of those homicides involved a gun.

"Here's where I say this is a cowardly act, to escalate an argument, to escalate to the use of a gun is a cowardly act," Police Chief Alfonso Morales said Tuesday.

About 10 hours after Morales, Mayor Tom Barrett, city officials, and faith and community leaders called for an end to the violence, another homicide was reported.

RELATED: Mayor Tom Barrett: 'We have to do better as a city' after 4 shot and killed in Milwaukee on Monday

Tyler D. Evans, 18, was shot on West Townsend Street, near North 58th Street, about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to police.

Officers found him unconscious and performed CPR until Milwaukee firefighters arrived and took over the effort. Evans died at the scene.

He had been "involved in an argument with a known person" and officers were searching for the shooter, police said Wednesday.

As of Wednesday evening, no arrests had been reported in any of the killings.

Two dead in Holton Bridge Swing Park shooting The Holton Bridge Swing Park under the North Holton Street bridge, was the scene of gunfire late Monday night. The shooting left two dead.

6 homicides in 48 hours

The series of homicides — all shootings — began Monday afternoon.

The first two shootings occurred in the city's Harambee neighborhood:

Lavonte Thompson, 23, was shot and killed about 3 p.m. on North 7th Street, near West Keefe Avenue.

Later that evening, Willie L. Williams, 40, was fatally shot on North 5th Street near West Center Street.

In both cases, Milwaukee police have not provided information on what led to the shooting, other than it stemmed from an argument.

About 11:30 p.m. Monday, an argument and confrontation between two groups at the Holton Bridge Swing Park escalated to gunfire.

Cammeron G. Ealy, 22, died at the scene, and Will Davis Jr., 17, was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.

Davis was a senior at Brookfield East High School "and will be greatly missed by his family, friends, peers, staff and the entire Brookfield East community," Principal Andy Farley wrote in an email to students' families.

Support services staff were at the school Wednesday and will be there from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday to assist students.

A woman told WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) she was with Ealy and her children on the pedestrian bridge when they walked by a group of men.

Someone in that group said something, and then she heard a shot and Ealy fired back, according to the account she gave the TV station. She and her children ran away.

The most recent homicide was reported at 2 p.m. Wednesday. A 23-year-old woman was shot and killed near West Clarke and West Center streets. Police have not released any details about the shooting.

Interrupting the violence

Three years ago when Milwaukee, and other cities nationwide, experienced a spike in homicides, a city commission recommended looking to Rochester, N.Y.

The Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission had found at least a quarter of the homicides in the city consistently related to arguments and fights. In 2015, the commission suggested police here learn from Rochester, which had the same problem of petty disputes leading to deadly violence.

ARCHIVE: Violence Interrupted: Rochester, N.Y., police keep one step ahead of street disputes

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In Rochester, police officials and university researchers reorganized police work around the concept of disputes, attempting to link each one across the city.

Front-line officers identified arguments on the streets and sent the information to the department's crime analysis center for a deeper assessment. Each week, representatives from police, prosecutors, probation and city and nonprofit agencies gathered to customize a response to interrupt the most volatile dispute.

Morales, who became chief in February, has said he favors a somewhat similar review process.

The Milwaukee Police Department is using shooting reviews, modeled off the earlier Homicide Review Commission and a process used in Oakland, Calif. The reviews are bolstering real-time information-sharing to get violent criminals off the streets or work with city's Office of Violence Prevention and community groups to find other ways to intervene.

Separately, the Office of Violence Prevention is expected to soon launch its long-awaited violence interruption program, called Ceasefire, as part of its wider Blueprint for Peace.

RELATED: Milwaukee unveils 'Blueprint for Peace,' a plan to prevent violence in the city

Ceasefire is based on the Cure Violence model, which involves training and paying trusted insiders of a community to anticipate where violence will occur and intervene before it erupts. Those interrupters typically work in an eight- to 10-block "hot spot" zone in neighborhoods.

But the type of violence Milwaukee experienced this week — volatile arguments and a split-second decision to pull a gun — is extremely hard to predict, Reggie Moore, the office's executive director, said Wednesday.

At least six citywide events engaged more than 10,000 residents last weekend, showing people are active in making Milwaukee a "safe and strong city," and more events are planned, he said.

Parklawn Assembly of God Church will host a community "praise fest" from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at the Washington Park Band Shell.

"Our focus has to be on changing the social norm around violence and building a culture of mediation," Moore said.

RESOURCES

Several organizations in Milwaukee offer conflict resolution or violence prevention mediation services:

10,000 Fearless Stop the Beef Hotline (414) 369-2790

Team Havoc (414) 313-8290

X-Men United (414) 519-1919

Wisconsin God Squad (414) 585-9511

Source: Blueprint for Peace, Milwaukee Office of Violence Prevention