MILWAUKEE — Continuing the fight against violence involving young Milwaukeeans is on the minds of stakeholders after an 8-year-old boy was shot while inside a home Saturday night.
Many people living here near 29th and Glendale said they saw significant police presence Saturday night.
“What are we going to do? What can we do? We have 414 Life. We have Office of Violence Prevention, but they can’t do it by themselves,” said activist Tracey Dent.
Dent told TMJ4 News since violence doesn’t stop, the effort to prevent it, has to be just as aggressive.
“Us as adults, we don’t have all the answers. Especially when it comes to the youth. We need to reach out to them and say what can we do to fix this and act on it,” Dent said.
Reggie Moore is the director of the city’s Office of Violence Prevention. He said the average age of a shooting suspect in Milwaukee is 29 years old. However, kids are increasingly being struck by gunfire. IN 2020, 27 homicide victims in the city of Milwaukee were under the age of 18.
“One of the things that doesn’t get talked about as much is the fact that we had the highest number of children who were killed or shot, within the last three years, in our city,” Moore said.
Moore said for people wondering how they can help; mentorship and being a positive influence in an individual’s life, goes a long way.
“Because when people stay indoors, and people don’t know their neighbors and people are afraid to talk to each other, those make communities less safe,” he said.
Police said the child in the shooting is expected to be okay.
