Milwaukee teenager killed after Juneteenth event in Washington Park identified
The 17-year-old shot and killed by another 17-year-old at Washington Park on Wednesday night has been identified as Sherrone D. Thornton Jr., according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office.
Thornton was shot and killed at the park following the Juneteenth Peace Day event at night.
Another teen, a 15-year-old Milwaukee boy, was also injured during this shooting. Thornton's family did not immediately respond to the Journal Sentinel's request for comment.
The suspect, a 17-year-old from Milwaukee, is in custody. He was charged in May with felon possession of a firearm and had posted $750 cash bail. The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office said it will refer charges to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office in upcoming days.
According to the sheriff's office, the shooting took place around 8:53 p.m. following a report of 50 young people who were about to fight.
During a briefing at the scene Wednesday night, Chief Deputy Daniel Hughes said law enforcement officials encountered the alleged shooter firing a weapon indiscriminately near the intersection of North 42nd Street and West Lloyd Street toward the playground.
Hughes said the suspect struck Thornton multiple times, and despite life-saving efforts, he was pronounced dead at the scene. His death has been ruled a homicide, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office.
Safety concerns regarding Juneteenth were brought up during a Public Safety meeting Friday
Members of the Common Council Public Safety and Health Committee as well as Juneteenth Peace Day event organizers defended the event during a meeting that was held earlier Friday. The event on Juneteenth drew between 3,000 to 5,000 people.
In total, there were 75 police and security personnel at the event including 41 sheriff’s officers, 14 police officers, between eight and 10 from the organizers and 10 de-escalation experts from the Office of Community Wellness and Safety, according to each agency that contributed staff.
Heather Hough, the Milwaukee Police Department’s chief of staff, said that children having guns was the primary problem. She said that the department felt the event was going well despite small fights and that the dispersal of it went well.
“I just want to highlight, that it's never a bad thing to try to plan peaceful activities for our young ones. It's, in fact, a good thing,” she said. “The second thing I just want to highlight, from our perspective … the major issue here is kids have guns.”
Vaun Mayes, one of the event organizers and a local activist, also defended the event.
"Of course, we’re getting thrown in with the negatives, but not the positives of this plan," he said. "Even though I don’t think that shooting was a direct result of anything we did, we do feel responsible in the sense we set out to have a day of peace and this goes against what we set out to do.”
Contact Adrienne Davis at amdavis@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @AdriReportss.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee teen killed after Juneteenth event identified
