6 More Fatal Shootings Bring Gun Homicide Tally For 2014 Up To 79

Editor’s Note: This article is part of a Wisconsin Public Radio year-long series tracking all gun-related homicides in Wisconsin.

Four more fatal shootings in Milwaukee this past week, plus two more in Fitchburg, have brought the statewide total for gun homicides to 79 for the year.

Two of this week’s victims, 20-year-old Keenan Harris and 22-year-old Stevan Owens, were shot during an argument at a house party near Marquette University. Twenty-year-old Dominique Hill was shot multiple times in his car in what police suspect was a drug deal gone wrong. Thirty-year-old Robert James was shot while making repairs on rental property he owned.

Finally, on Friday afternoon, police in Fitchburg were reporting the shooting deaths of two women. Their identities had not been released, and the crime scene is still under investigation.

Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn says that under current state law, there’s no disincentive for young men to carry guns with them to settle drug business and neighborhood disputes. Speaking on WPR’s “Kathleen Dunn Show” this week, Flynn said there should be tighter controls on who gets a concealed carry permit.

The group Pastors United of Milwaukee agrees that there’s a need for tougher gun laws. Minister Greg Lewis said there’s also a need to break down the wall of distrust that exists between police and people in inner-city neighborhoods, something he believes is beginning to happen. For example, 18 local pastors have been trained to respond to shooting incidents.

“They have our pastors’ numbers and we can minister to the families and minister to the community and those kinds of things,” said Lewis. “That’s part of building up that relationship and have a time when we can at least work together.”

Lewis said that it’s a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done.