MILWAUKEE — A five-year-old girl was shot in Milwaukee Sunday morning, according to the Milwaukee Police Department.
On Friday, 29-year-old John Anthony Jackson Jr. was charged with first-degree reckless injury and first-degree endangering safety in connection to the incident.
Neighbors say they heard gunshots and saw emergency responders loading a young girl into an ambulance.
The shooting happened at 49th and Meinecke, just one block from MPD District Three.
Family identifies the 5-year-old girl shot this weekend as Ke’yari Redding.
They say she is stable, after suffering life-threatening injuries. Her mom is by her side in the hospital.
Milwaukee Police confirm someone shot into the home where Redding lives. You can see bullet holes near the front door of the home, below a window.
Police have a 29-year-old man in custody for the shooting. Charges are expected in the coming days from the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office. Investigators are not releasing many other details yet.
Hours after the shooting happened, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson released a statement that indicated the person responsible for the shooting “has a history of arrests, including domestic violence.”
"When someone causes death, harm, or destruction in Milwaukee, they should be held accountable for their actions. I hold that same expectation in this horrifying incident.”
One neighbor, who spoke with a TMJ4 News reporter, says she heard what sounded like several gunshots just after 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning. Because of the noise, she went outside and saw the little girl being put into an ambulance.
She told TMJ4 she recognized the girl, as she is one of her 5-year-old daughter's friends.
"When you can cry for somebody else's child you know there's something there," Michah Jones said. "I just hope she's ok and her family.....That could have been one of anybody else's kids, that could have been my kid."
Neighbors are fed up with the violence and fear for the many young children who live in the area. Just across the street from Redding’s house, there is a memorial for another recent shooting victim who did not survive.
“I was so hurt and devastated,” said Brenda Luckett, the owner of Teddy Bear Child Care, a few blocks away. “I started this daycare center because I love children and wanted to try and help them develop for a better future.”
Luckett opened the center more than 20 years ago. It serves children from six weeks old to 12 years old. She tries to help educate and support parents too.
“There’s a lot of children in this area who need a safe place to be,” said Luckett. “I just want to keep them safe. That’s my goal.”
Luckett has security cameras surrounding her building and hopes to work closely with Milwaukee Police. She says over the years she’s witnessed far too much violence outside of the safe haven she’s created for children in the neighborhood.
