Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
At Least 6 Teens Shot After Milwaukee Juneteenth Celebration Ends
By admin
Published 2 years ago on
June 20, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

At least six teenagers were shot around where Milwaukee’s Juneteenth celebration had just wrapped up, according to police and fire officials.

The shooting happened about 4:20 p.m. Monday outside Greater Philadelphia Church of God in Christ, according to witnesses and a Facebook Live video taken by a bystander in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, according to local media outlets.

Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said six teens were shot, including a 17-year-old who may have been a gunman himself and is in custody. Police were still seeking additional suspects who hadn’t yet been identified.

Police said the victims ranged in age from 14 to 19.

Norman said the shooting may have stemmed from a fight among a number of girls and young women, but he didn’t know what sparked the dispute. The injuries of those wounded varied but did not appear life-threatening, the chief said.

“Milwaukee, what’s going on with our children?” Norman wondered aloud at a news conference. He noted that he has taken part in the city’s Juneteenth celebrations for eight years without any such bloody aftermath.

“Parents, guardians, elders, we need to engage in ensuring that this violence that our children are bringing these streets ceases. No handgun, no weapons of destruction, should be in the hands of our young ones.”

“This is a story that plays out too often, and it’s getting really old. Really old,” Norman said.

Bloody Weekend of Shootings

The violence followed a bloody weekend of shootings across the United States.

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson stressed that Monday’s Juneteenth observance itself was a safe and growing event, calling the subsequent violence “totally, totally unacceptable.”

“We had thousands and thousands of people here celebrating and bringing themselves together and having a sense of community. That’s a powerful thing. That’s the true story about what this day is,” said Johnson, a Democrat.

A man who identified himself as T. Jenkins told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that a fight between two women preceded the shooting. A young man pulled out a gun and everyone scattered, Jenkins said. The man did some of the shooting, he said.

Jenkins provided aid to a young woman with a neck wound. There was blood coming out of the left side of her neck, he said. “I applied pressure to her neck,” he said. “I tried to keep everyone calm around me.”

A Facebook Live video taken in the immediate aftermath of the shooting shows at least two young people with gunshot wounds being treated by paramedics on the pavement.

The person who filmed the Facebook Live said in the video that a teenage girl or young woman had suffered a gunshot wound to the neck. The Facebook user tried to comfort her sobbing friend, who was trying to contact her mother. Only about 20 minutes after the festival had officially ended, hundreds of people were still walking along the street.

Thousands of people packed King Drive for the festival, which ran from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Vendors selling food and wares lined the street along with community organizations offering resources, snacks and free giveaways.

Music thumped from booths and food trucks offering refreshing treats in the heat drew long lines. Youth dance groups, marching bands and drill teams entertained crowds in a parade along King Drive earlier in the day. Police officers were stationed in several places along the route.

Keith Caldwell, another vendor, described the scene this way: “I just heard commotion, gunshots, people screaming.”

On security at the event, Caldwell talked of the need for gun control.

“Right now, it’s like an uncontrollable situation,” he said.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

UP NEXT

1 Officer Killed, 1 Wounded and Another Man Dead in Los Angeles County Shooting

Northern Lights Could Be Visible Again in Some US States After Weekend Solar Storms

1 hour ago

Central Unified Trustees Choose Their Next Superintendent

2 hours ago

Madera County’s Rolling Hills Area Wildfire Prompts Evacuation Advisories

A wildfire burning near Highway 41 and Avenue 11 in Madera County’s Rolling Hills area has prompted evacuation advisories for two zones, off...

33 minutes ago

A wildfire near State Route 41 and Avenue 11 in Madera County’s Rolling Hills area has prompted evacuation advisories and warnings for residents to prepare to leave if conditions worsen. (Madera County SO/UC San Diego)
33 minutes ago

Madera County’s Rolling Hills Area Wildfire Prompts Evacuation Advisories

41 minutes ago

Judge Rules Next Fresno County Sheriff, DA Elections Are in 2028

NY's Judge and Rice Celebrate
50 minutes ago

Yarbrough Shines as Yankees Avoid Sweep With Win Over Dodgers

An aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, is seen in the night sky over the Tallinn bay of the Baltic sea in Tallinn, Estonia, April 2, 2025. (AP File)
1 hour ago

Northern Lights Could Be Visible Again in Some US States After Weekend Solar Storms

The Central Unified School District Board of Trustees has announced their intention to appoint Dr. Mark Marshall as the new superintendent. (GV Wire Composite/Paul Marshall)
2 hours ago

Central Unified Trustees Choose Their Next Superintendent

People visit the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., April 18, 2022. (AP File)
2 hours ago

Disney Is Laying off Several Hundred Employees Globally, Source Says

2 hours ago

Giants’ Pitching Is Winning Games Despite Team’s Hitting Struggles

Demonstrators protest outside the Center for Disease Control, in Atlanta, after the Trump administration began mass layoffs of 10,000 staffers at U.S. health agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services, including the FDA, CDC and the National Institutes of Health, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. April 1, 2025. REUTERS/Megan Varner/File Photo
3 hours ago

Trump Asks US Supreme Court to Allow Mass Federal Layoffs

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend