Police in Milwaukee are searching for a driver who is accused of shooting two children last weekend after they threw snowballs at passing cars, authorities said.
About 7:50 p.m. Saturday, the Milwaukee Police Department responded to a shooting along West Birch Avenue, the department said in a statement.
Officers found a 12-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy suffering from gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening, the statement said. The children were taken to a hospital and were recovering from their injuries Tuesday, said Sgt. Sheronda Grant, a public information officer for the department. She declined to answer questions about the extent of their injuries.
What happened
The victims were among a group of young people who were throwing snowballs at passing cars, police said. One of the snowballs struck a white Toyota, and the driver of that car then fired shots into the group, striking the two children, they said.
The investigation is active, Grant said, adding the department is still “seeking an unknown suspect.”
City leaders speak
Rep. Gwen Moore, a Democrat who represents Wisconsin’s 4th District, said in a statement she was “deeply troubled by the blatant disregard shown for these children’s lives.”
“This illustrates why we need stricter gun laws,” she said.
Cavalier Johnson, an alderman for the district where the shooting took place, said Tuesday that gun violence was “pretty tame” in the area.
“I just couldn’t fathom the idea of shooting at kids because they threw a snowball at you,” he said. “To apply deadly force to that action is totally and just completely senseless and uncalled for.”
Milwaukee crime stats
According to the Justice Department’s Project Safe Neighborhoods program, Milwaukee has experienced higher rates of homicides and nonfatal shootings since 2014. Crime statistics from the Milwaukee Police Department showed that homicides across the city had remained steady over the last two years at 99 each year, and aggravated assaults had dropped only slightly from 2018 to 2019.
Other incidents
It’s not unheard of for snowball episodes to end in violence. In 2008, a Philadelphia teenager was fatally shot after he threw a snowball that hit an adult in the face. In February, a Seattle woman was arrested after she tried to run over a group of people after someone hit her Jeep with a snowball.
About 180 miles northwest of Milwaukee, there is a different conversation occurring about snowballs.
For the last 57 years, the town of Wausau, Wisconsin, has banned throwing snowballs, an ordinance that drew national attention last month. Elected officials in the town will vote at their next City Council meeting whether to rescind the ban.
About the Author
