Three girls were the victims of a brutal beatdown while walking home from a festival, and it was all caught on camera. Now the boys behind the punches could be in trouble.
What should have been a quick walk home for three girls Monday evening turned into a fight.
"I was livid. I was livid. I'm still livid," said Tiffany McAfee as she watched the video of her two daughters being hit.
The girls' mothers said they were walking home from the Juneteenth Festival near 5th and Chambers Streets with a friend. They encountered a group of boys who wanted to fight the friend, but when he ran off, the girls were left surrounded.
"He kicked my daughter in the face and he spit on her in her face," said Dr. Shanika Johnson, a mother of one of the girls.
Johnson's daughter is 13-years-old. Her nieces are 14 and 15 years-old.
"They are just trying to enjoy the event down at Juneteenth and got into a situation where it could have turned out tragic," Johnson said.
"That was an ambush, that was a complete ambush on three girls," McAfee said.
Johnson said she sees this every day in the city. She wants the boys to face real consequences, like jail.
"There has to be a strong message sent to teach deterrence," Johnson said.
She says she would welcome them into the Peace Action Wisconsin.
"They need to be invited here. And we need to live what we say we standby here at Peace Education," Johnson said.
But she also hopes their own parents have a strong conversation with them about not hurting others.
The girls are all OK. Milwaukee police say the fight is still under investigation but expects to issue citations to the boys.
