Arrests in the Bay View Robberies

There was good news for Bay View business owners, customers, and residents on Sunday.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:

2 arrested in Bay View-area robbery spree

Merchants relieved; 20 holdups since December

Milwaukee police announced Sunday that they have arrested two suspects in a rash of armed robberies that reverberated from the south side to the South Shore.

The arrests represent a potential breakthrough in about 20 robberies that have occurred since December in the Bay View neighborhood and St. Francis.

Merchants who have been on edge breathed a sigh of relief Sunday after hearing that suspects were in custody.

"That would be great for us," said Mike Schmidt, owner of Bella's Fat Cat, a Bay View restaurant hit by robbers Feb. 18. "Everybody can relax a little bit," he said.

Police Capt. Darlene Jenkins said the two suspects were taken into custody this weekend but that additional details would not be released until today.

Jenkins said investigators did not want to say much while still piecing together details.

"We don't want to spoil it," she said. "It's too big a case."

At least one of the robberies was reported in St. Francis, and police there were helping Milwaukee investigators examine the two suspects.

Again and again, the media keep lumping the 20 robberies together.

Although many of the reports of these robberies often gave very sketchy descriptions of the suspects (if any at all), some provided clear inconsistencies about the suspects that would suggest the robberies weren't all carried out by the same people.

Nonetheless, the media keep tying them all together in a neat little package.

That's very misleading.

This report points out that the robberies may not all be related, but then inexplicably states that the suspects are accused of all twenty.

Police Make Arrests In String Of South-Side Robberies

All Robberies May Not Be Related

Milwaukee police made two arrests in the recent string of south-side robberies.

The suspects are accused of robbing more than 20 businesses at gunpoint on Milwaukee's south side and Bay View neighborhoods.

Police have not said how the suspects were connected to the crimes, but did say the arrests were made over the weekend.

The arrests came prior to another armed robbery Saturday night.

Honey Dip Donuts on South Layton Boulevard was robbed at gunpoint.

...The men got away with cash and police are still looking for those thieves.

It would be great if the two arrests that police made over the weekend would solve the crime that's overrunning the city and beyond.

I'm afraid that's unrealistic.