Sierra Guyton’s mother, Latanya Anderson, sheds tears as she gets a hug during a Memorial Day event. Credit: Mike De Sisti

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An 18-year-old man who is a convicted felon with a lengthy criminal record has been arrested in the playground shooting of a 10-year-old girl, Milwaukee police announced Monday.

The man previously has been arrested 15 times and was on probation at the time of the shooting that gravely wounded Sierra Guyton, 10, on the Clarke Street Elementary School playground on Wednesday, Police Chief Edward Flynn said.

The man's name was not released.

Police say the girl was caught in the crossfire when two people began shooting at each other. The chief said it was not clear whether the man who was arrested had fired the shot that hit Sierra, but Flynn called him a "very strong suspect" as the shooter. Investigators do not yet have the details of what prompted the shootout, he added.

The 18-year-old suspect had been wounded by gunfire a week before the playground shooting, Flynn said.

Police are still seeking the second suspect, Flynn said in announcing the teen's arrest by the department's fugitive apprehension unit. The gun has not been recovered.

The arrest was a result of strong cooperation from city residents, Flynn said.

The chief also thanked organizers of and participants in a rally held in Sierra's neighborhood earlier Monday. The event served as a call to action: for residents to support Sierra's family, to work with police, to join neighborhood groups, to volunteer as mentors and to make positive changes in Milwaukee.

Flynn asked for "all of them to stay engaged and stay enraged."

The community outrage expressed after Sierra's shooting has been heard before after similar shootings involving innocent children. A review of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel archives revealed at least nine children killed by errant gunfire in Milwaukee since 1995.

Long record

The suspect in the playground shooting has racked up arrests for trespassing, battery, robbery and motor vehicle theft since the age of 12.

Most recently, he was charged with burglary as an adult. He pleaded guilty in 2013 and was sentenced to one year in jail, with credit for 127 days of time served. A judge postponed the jail time, instead placing the teen on probation for three years.

In February, the teen was a passenger in a car that came under gunfire. He was not wounded and did not cooperate with authorities.

On May 14, he was shot on W. Center St., although police did not provide any other details. A week later, Sierra was shot on the playground.

The teen was identified as a suspect within 12 hours of the shooting, and officers spent three days trying to find him, Flynn said. He was arrested in Milwaukee late Sunday.

Flynn declined to provide more details, citing the ongoing investigation. He encouraged continuing community cooperation.

"This investigation is going to rely to some extent on the active involvement of community members who know things about the people we're seeking," he said.

The chief said he would not characterize the shooting as gang-involved because "right now the definition of gang on the north side is so loose to be almost meaningless."

Flynn said he would continue to push state lawmakers to toughen gun laws — and to help fund Milwaukee's "overwhelmed" criminal justice system.

"When I've got an 18-year-old with 15 prior arrests, something's broken," he said.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who joined the police chief at the news conference, also said the violence will continue until people decide to resolve their differences without guns.

He noted multiple people had been shot in the past day, referencing three separate shootings that occurred overnight Sunday.

"They were shot over a card game, over spilled groceries and over a woman," he said. "Nothing could be more insane."

The victims in those shootings were all expected to survive.

Remaining hopeful

Just hours before police announced an arrest in Sierra's shooting, the girl's family said that despite her grave injuries, she is doing better than expected.

Family members sat on their porch Monday and watched as more than 300 people descended on the intersection of N. 28th and W. Clarke streets for a rally. Many wore orange T-shirts emblazoned with the words "Let the children live."

The event was organized by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, the Metcalfe Park Community Action Team and the Milwaukee Building Neighborhood Capacity Program. It drew supporters from the nearby Amani and Harambee neighborhoods, as well as representatives from Pastors United, the Milwaukee Police Department and the Milwaukee County district attorney's office.

Community leaders repeatedly urged residents to cooperate with the police and offered to serve as liaisons between residents and the police.

It's not snitching "when you stand up for what's right," said Duril White, of the Metcalfe Park Community Action Team. "What if it was your baby? What if it was your brother? What if it was your sister? What if it was your mother?"

After Sierra was shot, Milwaukee police swarmed the area around the school almost instantly, having been alerted to gunfire by ShotSpotter — a system of sensors that captures the sound of gunfire and pinpoints its location.

While ShotSpotter is useful, it activates only after someone has fired a gun, Milwaukee police Capt. Jason Smith said.

"It can't replace the phone calls and the information that comes from a community telling me that somebody has a gun that shouldn't have a gun," he said.

Sierra was shot on the playground at 7 p.m. Wednesday, shortly after she had left the Boys & Girls Club in the lower level of Clarke Street Elementary School.

Children traumatized

The next day, the club provided counseling to its young members, many of whom were traumatized by what had happened, said Natalie Cooper, the club's director of adolescent and holistic health initiatives.

An 8-year-old girl showed club leaders cellphone photos of the massive police response to the playground the night before. One boy told them he walked to school with a sharpened stick in his hand the next morning because he was afraid. Children who were on the playground during the shooting said they felt guilty, believing they should have been the ones wounded since they had misbehaved more than Sierra.

"It was so hurtful when we found out she was a victim of such unnecessary violence," Cooper said.

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