MILWAUKEE -- Neighbors near Monday night’s double fatal shooting at Swing Park in Milwaukee say they have been complaining for years about the late night activities at the park.
A 17-year-old male and a 22-year-old male were both shot to death around 11 p.m.
Dan Paulus has lived across the street from the park for nearly two decades. He says nightly during the summer young people are in the park and generally playing loud music.
He has called both the police and the local alderman Nik Kovak.
“All I was ever told was call the police. I called them… overnight multiple times a night they always said talk to your alderman. He did absolutely nothing to control this,” said Paulus.
Kovak told TODAY’S TMJ4 that complaints have been on the rise in recent years and that security at the park has been increased with new lighting and cameras. He also said the city is open for new ideas on how to make the area more secure.
Paulus believes the park should be closed down. He said “short of having a police officer camped out here from 10 o’clock until 3 o’clock in the morning, I don’t know what the solution is other than not having it all.”
Kovak’s doesn’t agree on shutting down the park.
“You don’t close parks because bad things happen, you find a way to keep them open,” said Kovak.
Several tenants of the recently built “MKE River House” apartments next door to the park told TODAY’S TMJ4 that they plan on exploring other options.
One woman said the apartments were too expensive at $1,295 to $3,000 a month to be afraid to come outside or deal with the commotion at the park.
Residents said the apartment complex sent out an email to residents saying they were increasing security seven days a week, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
