A curfew for minors was put in place in Milwaukee on Saturday after three downtown Milwaukee Bucks shooting left 21 people injured, many of whom were attending an NBA playoff game in the city’s entertainment district.
All of these shootings occurred within a few blocks of the arena where the Milwaukee Bucks lost in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals to the Boston Celtics. One person was shot and 17 others were injured in what police described as an exchange of gunfire between two groups. It’s expected that all of the victims will survive.
In the absence of law enforcement, “What makes people think they can just have a shootout on a public street or in an entertainment district, whether police are there or not?” Nicole Waldner, the assistant police chief, inquired at a noon press conference.
At 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, everyone under the age of 20 must leave the downtown area, according to Mayor Cavalier Johnson. There are also plans for additional police patrols.
“We cannot have that in this city, nor anywhere else in this state, nor anywhere else in this country,” Johnson said.
Game 7 of the NBA Finals will not be banned from downtown watch parties, according to Mayor de Blasio. Thousands of fans gather in the Deer District, an entertainment area with numerous bars and restaurants where large crowds gather to watch major sporting events, even though the game takes place in Boston.
At 9:10 p.m., a shooting outside the Deer District left three people injured, according to Waldner. A 16-year-old girl was among them. One person has been arrested. After hearing shots, parking attendant Bill Reinemann saw a large number of people fleeing from the Deer District lot.
Six to eight shots were fired, he said. “It was close,” he continued. In the middle of the night, a shooting occurred. Waldner confirmed there had been no arrests.
At 11:09 p.m., another shooting left seventeen people injured. Waldner reported that five of the injured were armed and that they were among the ten people taken into custody. The motive for the shooting remains a mystery.
According to Waldner, “there were a few groups exchanging gunfire despite the enormous police presence downtown.” Police in District 1 said bullets flew past their heads as they were patrolling the area.
There were broken glass, empty alcohol bottles, single shoes, and two bloody shirts littering the streets after the shooting, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
In Appleton, Wisconsin, 25-year-old Jake O’Kane took in a playoff game with his girlfriend. After witnessing the initial shooting’s aftermath, they walked a few blocks away and spent a couple of hours at bars before deciding to take a Lyft to a restaurant.
As they waited for their ride, O’Kane said they heard “pop, pop, pop” behind them. He claims to have heard about 20 shots before being able to record 22 more on video. His group was only a few hundred yards away from the gunfire, he estimated.
It was less than two minutes before the driver arrived and “I said, bro—drive!” O’Kane made the statement. An estimated 11,000 fans who were unable to get into Madison Square Garden were able to watch the game from the Deer District, where the Bucks said there were no shootings.
In 2021, there were record numbers of homicides in several American cities, the majority of which were committed with a firearm. Other cities on the list included Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and more.
Experts believe that the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the violence because of the stress and pressures it placed on the population. On the other hand, Johnson blamed the easy availability of firearms.
One of the most pressing issues, according to Johnson, is the ease with which people can obtain firearms. “This isn’t just an issue in Milwaukee. The number of shootings, both fatal and not, has risen across the country.””
A total of 180 of the city’s 193 murders in 2021 were committed with a firearm. According to police reports, another 873 people were injured in the shootings.
This year’s pace is even worse than the previous year’s. In Milwaukee, there have already been 77 killings, which is a 40% increase from the same period of time last year. This year, there have been 264 non-fatal shootings, two fewer than last year at this time.
O’Kane expressed concern about Milwaukee’s future. “Are we going to go to another game again, if we win? Yeah, I’m still going to end up going to Bucks games. But are we going to be partying out afterward outside? Hell no, not a chance.”