‘Work that still needs to happen’

A second straight year with a significant drop in homicides in Milwaukee has done little to soften the pain for families impacted by the worst kind of violence.

The city is on pace for just under 140 homicides this year, according to data from the Milwaukee Police Department and Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office. That’s a hefty drop from the COVID-19 pandemic era, when there were about 215 in 2022 and about 172 in 2023, but still lags behind the years prior to that period.

“There’s work that still needs to happen in order to make sure that fewer and fewer people lose their life in Milwaukee,” said Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson.

The city’s decline in killings is little reprieve to families like the Bateses, however. That’s because Piffany Bates thought she would grow old with her sister Clarissla.

But on August 3, an argument at a bonfire instead led to her watching someone shoot and end her sister’s life right in front of her. Now, Piffany and her mother Deborah are determined to not let her name disappear and for justice to be found.

“This is all new, my only sister, my big sister,” Piffany said. “I’m hurting.”

The Bates family joins the over 130 families in Milwaukee who are left with voids in their lives from homicides this year. It leaves families wondering what they can do and, for many, it’s a fight for justice and remembrance.

On Sunday, the daughter and mother spoke at the annual Milwaukee Homicide Candlelight Vigil at the Ephesians Missionary Baptist Church, which remembers the year’s victims and gives families a chance to speak of their loved ones. It’s been held since 1992.

Justice could be within reach for Bates family, with a suspect, John Bowie, arrested and going through court currently.

“Whatever I got to do to get justice for my sister, I am,” she said.

The 2024 data could fluctuate as police continue to investigate deaths. For example, incidents could later be classified as self-defense, which would result in the figure declining.

Milwaukee leaders say more needs to be done

Through much of the year, city leaders have positioned the city’s crime numbers as moving in the right direction and the year’s decline in homicides show that’s true. Homicides, while an imperfect metric, are the weightiest benchmark, because it has the worst possible outcome: death.

The most recent data, through early November, from the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission shows there have been 17 victims of homicides who are 17 or younger. That same dataset shows that the most common victim is between the ages of 18 to 29.

Beyond homicides, non-fatal shootings followed similarly, with there being about 640 in 2024, according to police data. That’s down 24% from last year and down 27% from two years ago.

The year’s number of homicides leave the city still short of 2019 counts, the last year before homicides jumped significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. That year, the city saw 99 homicides, part of a four-year streak of declining deaths.

The spike in the following years — reaching a peak of 215 in 2022 — was largely attributed by experts and public officials to the pandemic. Experts have long attributed homicides and other violent crimes as disproportionately affecting those facing problems such as poverty, segregation and limited opportunity, all factors exacerbated during that period.

Comparing the city’s homicides to prior years is a non-starter for Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman.

He said he looks instead to the outcomes of the department’s work in the streets and the department’s efforts to be transparent in showing the city’s crime statistics, prompting better discussion of how to address it.

“It’s a, I will say, an easy argument, but I don’t believe it has merit,” he said. “I don’t want 2019 numbers. I don’t want 2018 numbers. I look for 0. One is too many.”

Milwaukee Mayor Johnson said he was pleased with the city’s progress, but said focus needs to remain on crime prevention efforts. Those include things like the city’s Camp Rise, new county projects like Advance Peace and community organizations like the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee.

What is promising about this year is the decline in areas of the city where homicides have been historically higher are outpacing the city’s overall decline, said Constance Kostelac, the director of Milwaukee’s Homicide Review Commission and a professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

She said those declines are part of multiyear trend, indicating that homicides are likely not decreasing by chance.

Neighborhoods like Harambee, North Division, Sherman Park saw decreases of over 30%, with some reaching up to 40%, according to the college’s data. Those are part of the area covered by the Violence Response – Public Health and Safety Team, or VR-PHAST, a cross-agency violence response initiative, which saw similar decreases, Kostelac said.

“To know that we’re seeing decreases in areas that historically have the really high concentrations, I think, shows that something fundamental is shifting in what’s occurring,” Kostelac said.

At Sunday’s vigil, one speaker noted how crime is as bad as it’s ever been in the city. That dynamic, the perception of crime versus what data shows, is something public officials frequently reckon with.

The lived reality is something that can’t be understated, said Reggie Moore, the director of violence prevention policy and engagement for the Medical College of Wisconsin. Moore said 2025 needs to be a year where efforts “intensify” to address shootings involving young people in the city.

“If you’ve lost a brother, a mother, a cousin or a child … that level of pain and hurt and loss is something no family should have to experience,” Moore said, noting practitioners in the community handle that nuance well.

Families want loved ones’ names remembered

This year’s violence didn’t stop for any reason, regardless of age or time of year.

Yvette Adams remembered her grandson Zane McAtee-Adams, a 6-year-old boy who was beaten to death in August, as smart and observant. He once noticed his little sister having a plastic bottle cap in her mouth, perhaps saving her from choking.

His caretaker, a woman who dated his father, is accused in the homicide.

Violence continued even the week of Christmas, when two double homicides occurred in Milwaukee. One occurred the morning of the holiday and killed two teenagers, Nayah Vasquez, 18, and 15-year-old Exziel Rivera.

Earlier in the week, two others were shot, Deontay Long, 24, and Rodney Walls, 36. On Dec. 27, charges were filed against Valentin Samuel Santana in the double homicide.

For others, the pursuit of justice remains ongoing — as does the desire to keep their name alive.

At Sunday’s vigil, among the speakers was Tanya Green, the mother of Amera Wallace. Wallace died during a mass shooting in July at Milwaukee’s Dineen Park. Green spoke of her frustrations with the investigation and of local politicians.

“Can y’all keep me in prayer and everybody say long life Amera Wallace,” the mother said before she stopped speaking.

These tragedies leave families grieving and, in Thomas Donald’s words, “hanging on by a thread.”

The brother of Marvin Davis, who died on July 11 in Milwaukee, Donald joined his mother at the front of Ephesians church on Sunday to speak during the vigil. It has left the family hurting.

At the service, he joined his mother and spoke of the pain he’s felt.

“I didn’t want my mother to go up and cry alone,” Donald said of why he spoke.

Before Donald and other family members spoke, Mayor Johnson addressed the crowd. He spoke of a “fact of life,” that there are more guns than people in America. To address that, he urged attendees to reach out to young men, the most common victims and suspects in homicides.

He urged people to try to talk them out of using firearms to resolve conflict and to receive proper training on guns as well.

“How would you feel if somebody hurt your mother, if somebody hurt your father, somebody hurt your niece or nephew or child? Think about that,” Johnson said. “That’s the sort of pain that the families in this sanctuary are feeling right now and it’s unjust.”

David Clarey can be reached at dclarey@gannett.com

Alison Dirr of the Journal Sentinel contributed to story.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee homicides dipped for second straight year in 2024