Green Alerts for missing veterans could go national
Driver killed, brother hurt in crash on way to school
A student of Shoreland Lutheran High School died after a car crash on his way to school Wednesday morning, and his brother was seriously injured, according to the Kenosha County Sheriff ’s Department.
The 18-year-old student lost control of his vehicle and struck a tree just east of 100th Avenue and Highway E in Somers. He was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.
His 16-year-old brother, who according to media reports was also a student at Shoreland, was taken to Children’s Hospital for serious injuries.
Two men charged in connection with Port Washington shooting
PORT WASHINGTON – Two men were charged in the shooting of an 18year-old Port Washington man during an attempted carjacking Sunday.
Niyoktron Martin, 21, and Lavander Blanks, 26, both of Milwaukee, were charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, attempted armed robbery and endangering safety with reckless use of a firearm. Martin has also been charged with bail jumping and obstructing an officer.
Martin and Blanks appeared in Ozaukee County Circuit Court on Wednesday. Each suspect’s cash bond was set at $100,000.
The victim, Nikolis P. Wagner-Ridling, has been released from the hospital. Port Washington police said their investigation has not revealed any potential prior association between the victim and the suspects.
Wagner-Ridling told police he was sitting in his car on Main Street at Franklin Street at 10:30 p.m. when two men ordered him out of his car. When he put the car in reverse, one of the men fired several shots at him, according to police and court documents.
Blanks was convicted of armed robbery in 2013, according to online court records. He had a warrant for his arrest at the time of his arrest in Port Washington.
Martin was arrested Monday as he was leaving the Port Washington apartment of Blanks’ girlfriend. Blanks was arrested that afternoon at the apartment.
Prompted by the death of an Air Force veteran from Milwaukee, Wisconsin recently passed a law creating a Green Alert system for missing, at-risk veterans.
Now members of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation are attempting to make Green Alerts national.
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, introduced a bill Wednesday, joined by Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, that would create a nationwide Green Alert to locate missing, vulnerable veterans. Green Alert is similar to Amber and Silver alerts for missing children and seniors.
The Corey Adams Searchlight Act is named after a Milwaukee man who suffered from post-traumatic stress after returning home from a six-month deployment to Afghanistan in 2009 with the Air Force Reserves. Adams’ family noticed a change in their son and brother and took him to the VA for appointments.
On March 20, 2017, Adams disappeared from his parents’ Milwaukee home. Alarmed, his family reported him missing to Milwaukee police, but because he was an adult, a search was not launched for several days.
Eighteen days later, Adams’ body was found in the Dineen Park lagoon. He was 45. The cause of death was undetermined, and his family does not know how or why he ended up there.
At the urging of Adams’ family, state Sen. LaTonya Johnson pushed forward a bill creating a Green Alert system in Wisconsin, which passed in March.