MILWAUKEE — Eleven people were shot in Milwaukee in the span of just four hours Thursday night. Three of those shooting victims have died.
Just before 8 p.m on Thursday, police said as many as five people were shot near 37th and Wright. In that shooting, an officer exchanged shots with an armed suspect. Officials said the suspect fled the scene, and it's unclear if the officer hit anyone. That officer was placed on administrative duty, per department policy.
Just about 90 minutes later around 9:30 p.m., four people were shot near 8th and Cherry. Three of the victims died, and the fourth is in critical condition.
Two other shootings happened earlier in the evening. Police said a 14-year-old and a 21-year-old were shot in those incidents, but both are expected to survive.
Mayor Tom Barrett responded to the overnight violence on Friday.
"We're seeing what happens when you have this toxic combination of incredibly easy access to guns...and then you've got people that obviously don't know how to solve their problems," Mayor Barrett said. "It's maddening. It makes me angry."
To put the recent surge of violence into perspective, the below chart shows homicide numbers through August for each year since 2017.
From 2017-2019 there was a decline in homicides. But there was a big spike in 2020, which wound up being a record-breaking year in the city for homicides. 2021 is on track to end with similar numbers.
County Executive David Crowley said he's hoping to continue to expand programs to prevent this level of violence.
"Milwaukee County is doing our best to find our role in this. We have the Credible Messengers program, which we've expanded. We've been working with the Office of Violence Prevention and we've seen there's a lot of public safety issues as it relates to the city, because they need some assistance too," Crowley said.
