USA TODAY US Edition

Milwaukee police impose curfew after shootings

At least 21 are shot and hurt in three incidents

- Ashley Luthern, Mary Spicuzza and Sophie Carson

MILWAUKEE – At least 21 people were shot and injured in three separate shootings in Milwaukee’s downtown bar district Friday after the Milwaukee Bucks playoff game, which drew thousands of people to the Deer District.

Following the shootings, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson imposed a curfew Saturday afternoon for parts of downtown on Saturday and Sunday nights. The curfew will run from 11 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. for people younger than 21 years old.

One of the shootings left 17 people wounded. Five of the people who were injured were armed and taken into custody, police said Saturday.

The victims ranged in age from 15 to 47, and all are expected to survive, Milwaukee police said. Ten people, ranging in age from juveniles to adults, were arrested and nine guns were recovered.

Authoritie­s have not released further informatio­n about the victims, the ages of the suspects and what they believe led up to the shooting.

The shooting occurred shortly after 11 p.m. Friday – just two hours after and blocks away from an earlier shooting that wounded three people, including a 16-year-old girl.

In that shooting, police arrested a 19year-old man and said two other men, ages 29 and 26, were wounded.

The gunshots sent hundreds of fans running through the Deer District, where 11,000 people had gathered to watch Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal playoff series between the Bucks and Boston Celtics.

Soon after that shooting, at about 10:30 p.m., a 20-year-old man was shot and injured. Police said Saturday that shooting did not appear to be connected to the latter shooting in the same area.

The Deer District has drawn thousands of people downtown in the last year to cheer on the Bucks. The area has been seen by many as a unifying space in a city with a reputation for segregated spaces.

Thousands of people flooded out of Fiserv Forum and the Deer District and surroundin­g bars, with the large crowds swelling into the streets in what was almost a festival-like atmosphere – with music blasting, clouds of smoke and impromptu dance parties.

Then gunfire sent people running. A reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, who left the arena about 11:30 p.m. heard sirens from dozens of police squads and ambulances and saw drivers running red lights, speeding, swerving, yelling at pedestrian­s and at least one driver going the wrong way on a street.

The violence hit an entertainm­ent district that has been battered by two years of the pandemic and other highprofil­e incidents of gun violence, including two homicides earlier this year.

By Saturday morning, North Water

Street was littered with trash, blood spatters and evidence that people fled the area quickly. Broken glass, empty alcohol bottles, single shoes, bloody shirts and packaging for medical gauze littered the streets.

A few police officers from the Milwaukee School of Engineerin­g and two workers with Milwaukee Downtown, the business improvemen­t district, were picking up trash and debris.

Michael Tulsky, an MSOE student was inside his apartment when he heard gunshots. Within five minutes, he heard more gunfire.

“Bullets were being sprayed everywhere,” Tulsky said.

Tulsky also saw a vehicle nearly hit a police officer who was walking across the street toward the scene of the shooting. He said he then saw what appeared to be officers fire toward the vehicle, but Milwaukee police officials emphatical­ly denied that account and said no officers fired any shots during the chaos Friday.

“Absolutely not,” Assistant Chief Nicole Waldner told reporters.

Another witness, Timothy Seymour, was inside the nearby Trinity Three Irish Pubs when he looked out the window and saw people running outside.

He didn’t know initially what had happened, but then a second round of gunfire about 15 minutes later made him realize there had been two shootings, he said.

“As a city, we should do better. It’s not even sports-related at that point. More so somebody just creating havoc,” said Seymor.

Last summer, violence in the Water Street area – including reckless driving, fighting and shootings – drew widespread attention and pledges from public officials to make sure the district was safe.

Police vowed to maintain a “constant presence” in the area on weekend nights and nights of Bucks home games. At the time, one bar owner told elected officials “lawlessnes­s that has taken over our street is nothing short of shocking and terrifying.”

In an interview Saturday morning, Milwaukee Alderman Robert Bauman, who represents much of downtown, said he been hearing from condominiu­m associatio­ns over the past month or two about their concerns over last summer’s violence downtown.

“I told them very frankly, based on current conditions, I don’t know why last summer’s violence wouldn’t reoccur,” Bauman said.

 ?? WISN 12 NEWS VIA AP ?? Police respond to the scene of a mass shooting on Friday in Milwaukee.
WISN 12 NEWS VIA AP Police respond to the scene of a mass shooting on Friday in Milwaukee.

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