Milwaukee's historic year of violence concludes with 189 people killed in homicides

Milwaukee concluded its historically violent year with 189 homicides as of New Year’s Day, nearly doubling that figure from 2019 and smashing its previous record set in 1991 by more than 14% 

The grim increase, which many experts and local officials believe was influenced by the coronavirus pandemic, follows a trend seen in dozens of other American cities in 2020 and comes after four years of declining homicides locally.

Nationally, homicides increased by 42% during the summer and 34% in the fall compared to 2019, according to a November study of 28 cities by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice.

But it’s not just fatal violence that skyrocketed in Milwaukee in 2020. As of Dec. 16, nonfatal shootings had already victimized more than 700 people in Milwaukee, a 64% increase from 2019, according to the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission. That also ended a two-year decline.

The rise in violence has often been attributed to the cascading effects of the pandemic exacerbating the conditions of violence that have long been present in disadvantaged communities.

The pandemic has left many adults struggling to find work, while many children are attending school virtually, with fewer after-school programs and employment opportunities available. It has kept people in close proximity with added stressors, and more people appear to be arming themselves with firearms, according to police and other officials.

Milwaukee police have attributed a significant share of homicides in 2020 to arguments or fights and domestic or intimate partner violence. As of Dec. 20, police confiscated more than 3,000 guns in 2020, an 18% increase from the year before.

Also, community groups, activists, social service providers and violence interrupters have had to either scale back or adjust their programming to fit social distancing requirements, at times making outreach efforts more difficult.

In contrast, when Milwaukee set its previous homicide record of 165 in 1991, the city was still in the throes of the crack epidemic and serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was finally apprehended.

“This has also been a year we have struggled with an unprecedented public health pandemic as it related to COVID and also calls for greater police accountability and reform and unprecedented rates of violence,” said Reggie Moore, the director of Milwaukee’s Office of Violence Prevention.

“What gives me hope is the collective engagement of residents really being concerned with public safety and community health and well being that we haven’t seen in a long time. Hoping that momentum continues as it relates to understanding violence as a public health issue.”

Young Black males account for more than 80% of the homicide victims in 2020, according to the Homicide Review Commission. And the hardest hit parts of the city, where fatal and nonfatal shootings victimized between 40 and 65 people in each neighborhood  — Old North Milwaukee, Park West, North Division and Harambee — lie on the city's north side.

Investigators in 2020 struggled to keep up with the caseload while also navigating hurdles caused by the pandemic. As of Dec. 24, Milwaukee police had a 50% clearance rate in 2020, when in the past three years that number hovered between 75% and 78%.

A case is considered cleared when someone is arrested or when a suspect is identified but cannot be arrested. A criminal conviction is not necessary, and clearance rates include all homicide arrests in a given year, no matter when the crime occurred.

The last reported homicide of 2020 came the evening of Christmas Eve, when Louie J. Johnson, 47, of Milwaukee went to a neighbor’s house in the Riverwest neighborhood “in hopes of preventing a domestic violence situation,” police said.

The suspect, who was arrested after the incident, shot and killed Johnson along the 1200 block of East Singer Circle.

From 2010 through 2014, Milwaukee eclipsed 100 homicides annually just once before a spike of 147 in 2015 and 142 the following year, according to police. Those numbers continued to trend downward to 97 in 2019.

Contact Elliot Hughes at elliot.hughes@jrn.com or 414-704-8958. Follow him on Twitter @elliothughes12.