Security plan for Milwaukee Juneteenth event included 75 police, security personnel

Milwaukee public officials were largely supportive of a Juneteenth event that has drawn criticism for a shooting that killed a teenager after it ended, while organizers continued to defend their approach.

The event, T4TC – Juneteenth Peace Day MKE, and its organizer's plans came under the microscope at the Common Council's Public Safety and Health Committee on Friday, with most members defending the event and its premise to give Milwaukee youth an evening holiday event to attend.

In all, there were 75 police and security personnel at the event. That number includes: 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.

The Wednesday event drew between 3,000 to 5,000 people, with organizers framing it as a success. Event organizers ended it early as attendees began accessing the event through unofficial entrances and other security concerns.

After it ended, and while crowds dispersed, police said a 17-year-old suspect shot and killed Sherrone D. Thornton Jr., 17, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office. A 15-year-old later went to a hospital with shooting injuries believed to be from the suspect.

“Of course, we’re getting thrown in with the negatives, but not the positives of this plan,” Vaun Mayes, a local activist and the event's co-organizers 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.”

The shooting occurred between two teenagers with a social media spat, said Ashanti Hamilton, the city’s director of its Office of Community Wellness and Safety, at the meeting.

At the meeting − held a day after organizers held a press conference to support the event amid criticism − Heather Hough, the Milwaukee Police Department’s chief of staff, said that children having guns was the primary problem.

She said the department felt that the event was going well, despite small fights, and that dispersal of it was going well.

“I just want to highlight, 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.”

Security planning and coordination struggles detailed

Mayes said the group initially didn’t expect to receive law enforcement support and had funding promised to hire security staff.

That funding, from a philanthropic organization he declined to name, fell through and the organizer said they would not have held the event, but local law enforcement support was later given, he said.

During the event, organizers and law enforcement struggled to coordinate with one another, Mayes said.

He said organizers attempted to direct them to stop some people from entering the event through unintentional entrances and, in the sheriff’s office report of the event, police said they were unable to reach organizers despite multiple attempts.

“Event personnel on stage eventually made the decision to end the concert at approximately 8:25 p.m. Attendees did disperse relatively quickly, however, additional fights involving multiple groups of young people continue to occur throughout the entire park, leading up to the shooting incident and homicide,” the sheriff’s letter to the committee read.

Mayes emphasized the shooting happened after the event on a side of the park far from the actual event.

In the event, he said that incidents were isolated and relatively minor, with some fights occurring. He disputed the sheriff office's narrative of events.

“They made it sound as this was like a direct result of this event. I don't agree with that,” he said at the meeting. “We did all that we could do from our standpoint. I believe it would have been great to have officials and stakeholders to really sit with us and help guide us through this process and ensure that we had everything we needed in place.”

Milwaukee Common Council members largely in support, with one questioning decision-making

The decision to hold the event came under scrutiny from Alderman Scott Spiker.

He questioned the lack of coordination and the loss of philanthropic funding for the event and why those weren’t signs to call the event off.

“How on earth did (the county) sign on for the permit for this event,” Spiker said. “Why on earth did you not pull the pin at that point?”

Mayes and another organizer, Gabbi Hart, took issue with the line of questioning, calling it “disingenuous.” Mayes said other events with large budgets or city-coordinated events have had issues and not faced the same type of criticism.

“I believe that’s a lapse on all of us to not coordinate in that manner,” Mayes said. “I can’t allow it to just be on myself.”

Spiker’s questioning was largely an outlier at the committee meeting.

Alderwomen Sharlen Moore and Laressa Taylor encouraged the event to occur again with better security.

Moore said that the city was “failing young people” and positioned things like the event as helpful.

“I don’t want to see this as a missed opportunity. We can harness this, and we can learn from it, and we can do better.,” Moore said. “We can’t do that without engaging our youth. Let’s make opportunities like this happen in a safe way.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Juneteenth officials say 75 police, security at event