MILWAUKEE (AP) - Police have arrested a suspect with a long criminal record in the shooting of a 10-year-old girl on a Milwaukee playground.
Police Chief Edward Flynn told reporters Monday the 18-year-old man has 15 previous arrests. He was on probation for burglary when Sierra Guyton was shot in the head and seriously wounded Wednesday night. Sierra remains hospitalized in critical condition.
Police say the girl was caught in the crossfire at the Clarke Street Elementary School playground between two people shooting at each other.
Flynn says the suspect’s arrest record includes battery, robbery, vehicle theft, trespassing and burglary.
A second suspect remains at large.
Mayor Tom Barrett is urging the people of Milwaukee to put down their guns.
Flynn says they need the community to stay “engaged and enraged.”
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EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) - Two motorists from Eau Claire have died in separate collisions with deer.
Authorities say a 69-year-old Eau Claire man died when his motorcycle struck a deer south of Eau Claire around 9:30 p.m. Sunday. He was thrown from his motorcycle and died at the scene on Deerfield Road in the Town of Washington. His name was not immediately released.
The second accident happened around 11:30 a.m. Monday on Interstate 94 near Watertown in Jefferson County. The Wisconsin State Patrol says a car was eastbound when a deer crossed its path. The car struck the deer head-on. The deer went onto the hood and smashed through the windshield.
The front-seat passenger, a 54-year-old Eau Claire man, died at a hospital, while the driver was injured. Their names were not immediately released.
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MILWAUKEE (AP) - U.S. Sen Tammy Baldwin and Gov. Scott Walker have come together to honor Wisconsin’s fallen soldiers.
They spoke Monday at Wood National Cemetery in Milwaukee, where hundreds of people gathered.
Baldwin said it was a time to come together to remember American patriots and the values Americans share.
WISN-TV reports (https://bit.ly/1kiqQyBhttps://bit.ly/1kiqQyB ) that balloons were sent skyward to honor those still missing in action.
Walker paid tribute to Gary Wetzel, whose helicopter was shot down in Vietnam. He survived and awarded the Medal of Honor.
Wetzel says that when he wears the Medal of Honor, he wears it for all who served. He says he was just a soldier doing his job.
More than 37,000 headstones fill Wood National Cemetery. Each one has a different name and a different story.
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TOWN OF PACIFIC, Wis. (AP) - Tom Lichtfeld was standing outside his garage three years ago when he heard something rip through the air and land at his feet.
He bent down and picked a 9-millimeter bullet out of the ground - a stray round from the nearby makeshift shooting range at the Swan Lake Wildlife Area in south-central Wisconsin.
“I ran down there and yelled ’What the hell are you doing?’” Lichtfeld said. “It’s a stupid setup.”
Gunfire has rung out at Swan Lake for years but neighbors say it’s getting out of control. Gun lovers are blasting away almost every day now and leaving behind so much debris that the site has become a dump.
The problems underscore the state’s love affair with all things firearms and have put the Republican-controlled Department of Natural Resources in a delicate position as it works to promote shooting sports. Residents and local officials have pushed for three years to force the DNR to prohibit shooting on the land but the agency won’t go that far. DNR officials hope to release an alternative plan soon but local leaders want more.
Swan Lake is a 2,466-acre mix of wetlands, grasslands and woods in the rural Town of Pacific in Columbia County. Visitors enter the area through a parking lot that lies at the base of sandy, 10-foot berms that make for a natural backstop for bullets. The result: a free makeshift firing range.
Shooting on public land is legal in 54 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, including Columbia. But shooting at Swan Lake has become problematic since 2011. It’s unclear exactly why the site’s popularity has spiked, although local officials speculate it might have to do with the state’s concealed carry law, which went into effect that same year.
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