Five People Shot on Milwaukee's South Side

It was an exceptionally violent evening on Milwaukee's south side.

Two police officers were among the five people shot.

WITI-TV, MILWAUKEE -- Two Milwaukee police officers were among five people wounded in what apparently were two separate shooting incidents that broke out in the same south side neighborhood Tuesday evening.

"We're asking the citizens of the city of Milwaukee to pray for these two officers," police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz told reporters, although she said the wounds were not believed to be life-threatening.

She said two vice control officers were in the area at 7:44 p.m. when they heard gunshots being fired.

After they called the dispatch center and reported the gunfire, other officers responded to the scene, and three of them in a squad car were fired upon as soon as they arrived as they confronted two suspects in the area who had weapons, Schwartz said.

Two of those officers were wounded, but one returned fire and wounded a 15-year-old youth.

The other shooting, several blocks away, left two boys, 15 and 16, in critical condition, Schwartz said.

She said two firearms and a substantial amount of drugs were found.

She also said police had two people in custody, the 15-year-old wounded in the exchange with police and a 24-year-old man who was with him.

And from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Two Milwaukee police officers were shot along with three other people Tuesday night during a drug investigation on the near south side, a police official said.

...According to Schwartz, officers with the Vice Control Division were conducting a drug investigation near 14th and Greenfield and heard shots fired. The officers called for backup and other vice control officers and officers with the department's intelligence division responded to the area.

Three of the intelligence officers approaching the area in a squad were fired upon and a 31-year-old officer with 10 years experience and a 26-year-old with eight years experience were struck.

One of the three officers returned fire, striking a 15-year-old male suspect. The teenager, whose condition was unavailable late Tuesday, and a 24-year-old male were then taken into custody.

At about the same time two males, one 15 the other 16, were shot near 12th and Madison. Both were reported in critical condition late Tuesday, Schwartz said.

Here's more from WISN.com:

One officer was shot in the shoulder, another was shot in the leg. Both officers were reported to be in stable condition at Froedtert Hospital.

...[A 15-year-old] boy is in stable condition at a hospital. He, and a 24-year-old man who has a previous record of weapon and gun charges, were arrested. Two semi-automatic guns and an undisclosed amount of drugs were recovered, Schwartz said.

...Two boys, ages 15 and 16, were found shot. Both are in critical condition at Children's Hospital.

What a chaotic scene!

Thank God the officers will be OK, their injuries not life-threatening.

What were the shooters thinking?

Who the hell exchanges gunfire with police and expects it to end well?

Who the hell exchanges gunfire at all and expects it to end well?

It appears that this was gang-related.

The question is always the same in these cases: WHERE WERE THE PARENTS?

Do they know that their kids are gang members? Do they know that their children have guns? Do they know they deal drugs?

Did these little darlings tell mom they were going to a friend's house to study? It is a school night.

One Milwaukee station reported that Mayor Tom Barrett and Chief Nan Hegerty were at the hospital to support the injured officers.

What will be Barrett's reaction?

Will it be another gun rant?

No doubt Hegerty can't wait to hand over the reins of the MPD to a new chief.

I really don't have much to say about this that I haven't said before.

Teens who should be hitting the books are hitting the streets. They're engaged in illegal activities. They have no respect for life. They don't respect others and they don't respect themselves.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee residents are taxed to the hilt to fund schools to provide a quality education for these thugs, so they can become productive members of society with bright futures.

Newsflash: The thugs don't want it.