MILWAUKEE – For the first time in the city’s history, at least 200 homicides have been committed in Milwaukee this year.
Those numbers are according to the Milwaukee Homicide Database, which is operated by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
There were two homicides committed in Milwaukee on Tuesday morning which contributed to the grim record-setting total.
The first happened around 5:45 a.m. near 32nd and Hampton. A 43-year-old woman died of blunt-force trauma injuries and a 44-year-old man was arrested.
The second homicide happened just before 8:00 a.m. on Congress Street near Lindsay Park in Milwaukee.
A 28-year-old man was shot and killed in that incident. As of Tuesday afternoon, no arrests had been made.
Assistant Chief of the Milwaukee Police Department, Paul Formolo, tells WTMJ that the department needs to do a better job of connecting with the community and working to prevent violent crime before it happens.
“It’s our job here to re-establish relationships and re-establish our legitimacy within the community. We need to work with the community to prevent violent crime,” Assistant Chief Formolo said.
But when violent crimes do happen, Formolo says investigators need help from people who live in the community as well.
“We need the community’s assistance to solve homicides and non-fatal shootings when they do occur. That cooperation is just paramount to what we’re trying to accomplish here as a police department,” Formolo said.
“Most of the homicides that we solve are because of information that we receive from the community. I.E., witnesses.”
Of the 200 homicides which have happened in Milwaukee in 2021, less than half have resulted in an arrest.
Assistant Chief Formolo says the Milwaukee Police Department is working hard to change that.
“Historically, we’re able to sustain anywhere between 70 to 80 percent clearance of our homicides, and obviously this 47 percent clearance rate that we have is not acceptable,” Formolo said.
