Organizers, public officials angered by shooting after Juneteenth event

Organizers of a Juneteenth event distanced themselves from a shooting that killed a teenager after the event on Thursday, while public officials called for solutions in the wake of the violence.

The event, Juneteenth Peace Day MKE, drew between 3,000 and 4,000 people Wednesday night which organizers framed as successful and stressed that the shooting, which killed a 17-year-old boy and injured another, occurred after it ended.

"Let me also say we are not only saddened, but those who know what I do day to day know, a shooting, and especially a death is not ok with me," Vaun Mayes, a Milwaukee activist and co-organizer of the Juneteenth event, said at a Thursday press conference. "Public safety is a top priority for myself, to my team, and this effort was meant to help be a curbing to violence and a call for peace and unity."

The suspected shooter had been previously arrested on a felony charge of possession of a firearm. The suspect was out on $750 cash bail, Milwaukee County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Daniel Hughes said in a Wednesday night press conference.

On Wednesday night, a sheriff's detective fired his weapon at the suspected shooter, who then fled, Hughes said. Another detective would later take the suspected shooter into custody at gunpoint.

Event organizers lament losing funding, lack of coordination

Mayes said the organizers had someone pull out of funding the event, which limited their ability to implement the event's security plan.

The organizers declined to name which organization pulled the support but said that it hampered them from having things like paid security. Mayes also said there was a lack of coordination between event organizers and law enforcement officials the day of the event.

"We want to strongly state that the homicide that occurred should not be contributed to my team or to the staff," Mayes said. "This was not a direct result; I want to make that clear. I believe both our staff and law enforcement did the best we could under the circumstances."

The organizers ended the event early after they noticed security lapses, Mayes said. For example, he said an entrance to the park they did not plan to have accessible was not able to be secured and allowed some to enter the event from behind the park bandshell or others climbed over barricades.

Mayes said they did not regret holding the event, despite knowing the funder had dropped out, and pointed to other events where violence has occurred, including those at city organized events or at festivals.

He and other organizers touted the event as largely a success and pointed to guns confiscated by police at it as a positive, too. Another organizer said they planned to clean up Washington Park following the press conference on Thursday.

"We hope for justice for the families, the victim's families," Mayes said.

'No one should be scared to visit a park'

The Milwaukee County supervisors whose districts include Washington Park and nearby neighborhoods are asking for a meeting with top criminal justice and health leaders to “dissect how this happened and come up with viable solutions to prevent more violence in our county,” Milwaukee County Supervisor Sky Z. Capriolo said in a joint statement with Supervisor Shawn Rolland.

Specifically, the two supervisors are seeking a meeting with senior leaders of Milwaukee County Parks, the Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Health and Human Services, the county District Attorney’s Office and the county court system.

Wednesday night’s shooting was the third year in a row that there was gun violence on the Juneteenth holiday. Last year, six teenagers were injured in a mass shooting near the conclusion of the Juneteenth festival on King Drive.

The county supervisors want to know if there was enough security, officers and event staff to keep people safe and if the event was attended by more people than anticipated. Capriolo said in the statement that "it is crushing when an incident like this happens" in a gathering space.

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said via a post on X that "yesterday should have ended with a peaceful celebration of Juneteenth in Milwaukee County."

"No one should be scared to visit a park," Capriolo said.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: juneteenth day shooting at washington park in milwaukee