Wisconsin Gun Homicide Total Reaches 103 For Year

Three gun homicides in Milwaukee this week have pushed the statewide total to 103 for the year.

On Thursday morning, on a section of Park Hill Avenue overlooking Interstate 94 on Milwaukee’s west side, two men — 19-year-old Deshea Willis and 25-year-old Jonathan Ivory — were found shot to death inside of a stolen car .

It isn’t clear if the shootings happened on Park Hill, or if the bodies were driven there.

Bob Greene, the executive director of the local Merrill Park neighborhood association, has already been talking to two local aldermen about getting police to take more action in response to such shootings.

“You know, police do a couple ride-throughs for a couple of days, and then they go back on to their regular business. And I keep trying to impress upon them — and I think we’re making progress on this — that there needs to be more action to permanently alleviate problems like this,” said Greene.

Greene also said he plans to talk to Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke about more county officers patrolling the nearby freeway off-ramps and on-ramps. He said he believes this week’s shootings were drug-related, and the neighborhood association has to be vigilant.

“You can put your head in the sand, or you can stand up and light a candle and address these issues,” he said.

Greene said murder in Merrill Park is relatively rare, but that other types of crime are more common. He said a key crime-fighting goal is to see a rebound in owner-occupied housing.

“Owner-occupancy rates prior to 2006 were 61 percent. Then came the real estate crash of 2009. We’re at about 41 now,” said Greene.

The third gun homicide in Milwaukee this week occurred early on Friday morning on the city’s northwest side, when a 33-year-old woman named Karen Bradley was shot during what police believe was a domestic dispute. Officers are seeking 42-year-old Anthony Bradley in the case. Bradley is considered armed and dangerous.

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