Families mourning after two 15-year-olds killed in shooting on Milwaukee's south side
Two families are mourning the loss of 15-year-olds who were killed in a shooting Saturday night on Milwaukee’s south side.
Alejandro Sanchez and Monroe Weso were both identified by their families on GoFundMe pages set up to help pay for memorial services.
“(Alejandro) was an amazing boy, he was very outgoing and just loved being with his family and friends,” his sister, Dalilah Sanchez, wrote. “He always liked to look out for people and get creative.”
Cheyenne Grignon, an aunt of Monroe, said her nephew is a Milwaukee native, but "home was always the Menominee Reservation, where his final resting place will be."
"He was an outgoing, enthusiastic young man that had so much more life to live," Grignon wrote.
Both families have a stated goal of raising $10,000.
The shooting was reported at 10:30 p.m. Saturday on the 1400 block of West Halsey Avenue. Police declined to provide any details on the circumstances of the shooting Monday and said no suspects have been identified.
“You have to be very heartless to do something like this,” Dalilah Sanchez said of the incident on Facebook.
Monday morning, two bouquets of flowers and a figurine of a frog were resting against a tree on the corner of West Halsey Avenue and South 14th Street.
Two residents of the area, Syed Jameel, who moved in one month ago, and Omar Feizel, who has lived in the area for 15 years, said they were surprised and sad to hear about the shooting. They said the area is generally quiet.
“This neighborhood is good,” Feizel said.
Milwaukee and much of the nation has seen an increase in children harmed by guns since 2020.
That year, gun violence became the leading cause of death for children in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In Milwaukee, the number of children injured in shootings and who have died by homicide has doubled, when comparing the four years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to the four years since its arrival in early 2020.
Since the pandemic, Milwaukee saw an average of 105 children injured by guns and 24 killed in homicides, the majority of which are committed with guns.
Two nights before Saturday's shooting, a 3-year-old was injured in another shooting on Milwaukee's northwest side.
Access to guns and widespread effects from the COVID-19 pandemic have been cited as factors by law enforcement, community members and academics.
However, the trend appears to have slowed so far in 2024 compared to last year, along with the city’s overall gun violence and homicide rate. Through Thursday, the city recorded three child homicides and 20 child victims of nonfatal shootings, down from eight and 39 as of the same date in 2023.
Local officials have attributed the general fall in gun violence to the return of in-person youth programming, social services and the rollout of federal aid meant to help prevent violence.
Last fall, a Journal Sentinel analysis of reports from police, media, government and nonprofit agencies showed that accidental shootings involving children had increased across the state since 2020.
Although still rare, those incidents doubled in Milwaukee in the four years after the pandemic compared to the four years prior to it.
How to contact police, and to do it anonymously
Anyone with information is asked to call Milwaukee police at 414-935-7360 or, to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 414-224-TIPS or use the P3 Tips app.
Where to find help
Milwaukee's Office of Violence Prevention also recommends these resources for free support:414Life outreach and conflict mediation support: 414-439-5525.
Milwaukee County's 24-Hour Mental Health Crisis Line: 414-257-7222.
Milwaukee's Child Mobile Crisis and Trauma Response Team: 414-257-7621.
National crisis text line: Text HOPELINE to 741741 to text with a trained crisis counselor.
National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800-273-8255.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800-799-7233.
Contact Elliot Hughes at elliot.hughes@jrn.com or 414-704-8958. Follow him on Twitter @elliothughes12.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Families mourn after two teens killed in south side Milwaukee shooting
