Rahjeen Mitchell

Jasmine Owens

Donnicka Jones

Rahjeen Mitchell

Within one month, three innocent children were shot in Milwaukee because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A 12-year-old girl was shot and critically wounded Wednesday night after stepping outside of her home and walking into an altercation among a group of young males, police and a relative said.

The girl, whom the relative identified as Rahjeen Mitchell, was struck once in the forehead at about 7:40 p.m. in the 5000 block of N. 28th St., said Lt. James Timm of the Milwaukee Police Department's Criminal Investigation Bureau.

The girl suffered a single gunshot wound to the center of her forehead, and the bullet exited the left side of head, Timm said.

According to Timm, an altercation between a male suspect and another person, who was the intended target, preceded the shooting. The suspect was with one to two other males. All were thought to be in their mid-teens to early 20s.

Police were seeking the young males late Wednesday.

The girl was in critical but stable condition late Wednesday at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Timm said.

..."My little cousin had just come out the house when the confrontation started," [Rahjeen's cousin, Adonis Mitchell] said. "The boy who started walking away turned around and started shooting. The next thing you know my little cousin is lying on the ground."

..."This violence has got to stop," Mitchell said.

I thought the death of 4-year-old Jasmine Owens was supposed to be the wake up call.

I thought the community was outraged. I thought people weren't going to tolerate this. They were going to rise up. Not one more child would be shot so senselessly.

Apparently, the two or three thugs involved in the altercation that ended in the shooting of Rahjeen Mitchell didn't get the memo.

I guess the candlelight vigils didn't have much of an effect on them.

It seems Mayor Tom Barrett's anger wasn't enough to spare more children.

It was just earlier this week that Barrett blamed Milwaukee's violent crime on "a decline in funds for the community-oriented policing service program and the need for responsible gun legislation."

Yes, if the Bush administration wasn't so sidetracked by its emphasis on "homeland security" rather than focusing on "hometown security," then things would be so much better.

Milwaukee streets would be safer.

Rahjeen Mitchell wouldn't be in the hospital right now.

Jasmine Owens' killer would be in police custody rather than getting away with murder.

When will Milwaukee's violent downward spiral stop?

There's no reason to believe that it will. None.

Conscienceless thugs, citizens unwilling to cooperate with police, and a clueless mayor guarantee that more innocents will become victims.

Ald. Bob Donovan's idea of bringing in the National Guard to patrol the mean streets of Milwaukee sounds like a good idea.

A curfew alone wouldn't help much since the thugs are so brazen, with so many of these shootings occurring in broad daylight in busy places.

Martial law in Milwaukee sounds like plan.

I think the situation is that bad. I really do.

Circuit Judge Dennis Moroney and Cortney Terry

Cortney Terry nearly killed 12-year-old Rahjeen Mitchell on June 13, 2007.

The man shot her in the head.

From The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The teenager who shot 12-year-old Rahjeen Mitchell in the head slumped into his courthouse seat, called himself "stupid" and, after a judge spoke, began wiping his face with shackled hands Monday.

Cortney Terry, 18, is going to prison for six years for a shooting no one would defend.

Somehow he didn't kill Mitchell, daughter of his stepmother's best friend, despite the .357 bullet he recklessly fired down a street and into her forehead.

"What I did was real stupid," Terry said in court.

No, it wasn't stupid.

Locking your keys in the car is stupid.

Forgetting to set the alarm clock is stupid.

Shooting someone in the forehead is a crime. It's a sin. It's the act of a cold-blooded thug, someone with no respect for life.

..."It's incredibly frustrating to me," Assistant District Attorney Thomas Potter said, "that this had to become the latest front-page lead news story about how bad things have gotten in Milwaukee's central city. It was completely unnecessary."

This is a weird comment.

Is Potter ticked off that the shooting became such big news?

Is he ticked off that Terry is a thug?

What's the big deal about Terry shooting Mitchell in the head being pointed to as an example of how bad things have gotten in the central city?

It happened and things are bad. The only thing frustrating about it is that once again a supposed wake up call has no impact.

The evening of June 13, Terry brandished a pistol after losing a fistfight. Guns had gotten him in trouble before; at the time, Terry was on probation for bringing a loaded .22-caliber handgun into a school in 2006.

Obviously, Terry's brush with the law and court system didn't scare him straight.

His punishment didn't serve to make the public safer.

It was useless.

...Terry later apologized to Mitchell by phone from the Milwaukee County Jail. She and her family asked for leniency and didn't attend Monday's sentencing.

Terry's attorney, Steven Kohn, called the forgiveness "a state of grace that is unseen in our court system," where victims' families often go to court to beg for harsh penalties.

I don't get this.

I don't consider it a "state of grace" for Mitchell's family to ask for leniency in sentencing.

If in their hearts they're able to truly forgive Terry for nearly killing Rahjeen, that's remarkable. God bless them.

However, in terms of society and the greater good, asking for leniency for the shooter is irresponsible.

Circuit Judge Dennis Moroney, who gave Terry probation in August 2006 for the earlier gun offense, sent him to prison for six years and put him on extended supervision for six more.

Moroney agreed with Kohn's assertion that Terry is "a likable kid" - except for the history of reacting to pressured situations with a gun.

Excuse me.

This makes me want to puke.

"A LIKABLE KID"?

Moroney considers this repeat offender, almost murderer of a MAN likable???

To be fair, he thinks Terry is likable except for his nasty habit of "reacting to pressured situations with a gun."

Yes, that does make him a teensy weensy bit less likable.

That "likable kid" stuff is crap.

CRAP!

"If every time something's going to happen, it's going to be like the O.K. Corral, what social function are we living in?" Moroney said.

Moroney's not helping matters by treating the "likable kid" shooter with kid gloves.

How much of the six year sentence will Terry actually serve?

Six years isn't enough.

When will he be back on the street shooting again?

And he will shoot again. No question about it.

Will Moroney still think of him as "likable" then?

Death, taxes, and Cortney Terry shoots again.