Shooting victim, driver killed in car crash identified
A single mother of four died in a car crash after being shot at a party early Sunday morning, authorities said.
Leerance Riley, 29, was driving Victoria R. Smith, 34, to Ascension St. Joseph Hospital when he lost control and crashed into a tree in the 3700 block of North Sherman Boulevard, according to reports released Monday from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Both Riley and Smith died from multiple blunt-force injuries, according to the medical examiner.
Smith was one of five people shot at a house party around 3:30 a.m. Sunday in the 4500 block of North 28th Street.
The others struck by gunfire at the party were: a 29-year-old man, in critical condition; a 33-year-old man, who suffered serious injuries; and two women, ages 22 and 33, who were treated and released from the hospital, according to police.
The circumstances leading to the shooting are still under investigation, police said.
Emergency crews worked for 45 minutes to extract Riley and Smith from the vehicle, according to the medical examiner’s reports. They were both pinned under the front dash.
The car had major damage, and investigators found more than 150 feet of skid marks on Sherman Boulevard leading to the tree.
Spate of shootings
Five minutes after the quintuple shooting involving Smith, a triple shooting occurred a little more than three miles away on Milwaukee’s north side. A 32-year-old man died and two men, ages 22 and 47, were injured. Police are still looking for suspects.
The gunfire came amid a spate of violence over the weekend in Milwaukee. According to reports from police, four people died and 12 were injured in shootings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Then, early Monday morning, a 14year-old boy suffered a gunshot wound while sitting in a vehicle, Milwaukee police said.
The teen’s injuries were not lifethreatening, police said.
He was struck by gunfire about 1 a.m. Monday in the 800 block of West Atkinson Avenue and walked into a hospital for treatment, police said.
Although the circumstances leading up to the shooting are still under investigation, police said it does not appear the teen was the intended target.
About half an hour later, a 28-yearold Milwaukee man was shot in the 2400 block of North 29th Street and suffered injuries that were not life-threatening, police said.
In a news release Monday, police also reported the shooting Saturday of a 21year-old woman. She suffered injuries that were not life-threatening when a suspect shot her during an argument about 1 a.m. in the 2900 block of West Highland Boulevard, police said. They are looking for the suspect.
Homicides in Milwaukee are up 66% compared with this time last year, according to a city database. Contributing to the spike are a series of shootings in which multiple people died: at the Molson Coors brewery complex in February, a gunman killed five people then himself; at a home in April, prosecutors say a man killed five people — including four teens.
At this time in 2019, Milwaukee had seen 38 of its 97 homicides for the year. The city has already recorded 68 homicides.
Gun violence also devastated Chicago over the weekend. At least 104 people were shot, 14 of them fatally, according to the Chicago Sun Times. Five children were killed, including a boy, 3.