MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee police have long been keeping a close eye on the intersection where they say a quadruple shooting happened earlier this week.
MPD says two people died and two people went to the hospital after a shooting near 27th and Capitol Wednesday morning. A 26-year-old man was arrested in connection to the shooting.
MPD Capt. David Feldmeier says in 2020 there was one homicide and one non-fatal shooting within a two-block radius of the intersection.
He says calls for service to the Citgo gas station at the corner have actually gone down since 2017. He says there were 178 calls in 2017, and there were 90 in 2020. He attributes that in part to some of the strategies police have in place, such as working with the community and the businesses in the area.
"If they’ve posted no loitering signs, they give us consent that, hey, if there’s somebody there loitering, they say Milwaukee police, come on, we want you to come have contact with that person and just make sure they are either here to patronize the business or they're moving along," Capt. Feldmeier said. "So that’s definitely helped, obviously presence helps, but we can’t be everywhere."
MPD says there have been 32 homicides so far in 2021, down from 38 at this time in 2020. Non-fatal shootings are up to 167 as of April 7. There were 103 at this same time last year.
Capt. Feldmeier says in general, most of the violence he's encountered over the past year or so has stemmed from arguments.
"Individuals are getting into arguments and fights on social media," Feldmeier said. "And now with people getting out back on to the streets, and congregating more and socializing more, they are maybe seeing that individual that they have had an argument with, and for whatever reason, it escalates."
He said the community can help them curb the violence.
"The community can help us when we come to investigate these incidents by sharing what they know, by calling before things get out of hand, before things happen," Capt. Feldmeier said. "If you know there's an argument, or if you know a family member or friend is going to meet somebody and you believe it's going to escalate, calling us ahead of time, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that."
