Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes urged residents to help authorities curb gun violence ahead of the July Fourth weekend after a spate of shootings across the city in recent days, including one that put two teenagers in the hospital.
Six shootings have taken place in all corners of the city since last Friday — and between Sunday and Tuesday alone, police recovered eight guns, from assault weapons to rifles and pistols, Barnes said.
“We have seen an alarming number of guns on the street,” Barnes said at a news conference Thursday.
“Whatever’s going on the last couple of days, it needs to stop and it needs to stop now,” the chief said.
As Barnes was preparing to address reporters at the department’s Central District Office about 3 p.m., officers were responding to an incident in which two vehicles exchanged gunfire in the area of Commercial Avenue and Sprecher Road. No one was injured, and authorities recovered two guns.
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On Wednesday, two teenagers were shot in a car about 5:20 p.m. in the parking lot of a McDonalds at 2901 Dryden Drive. Two people fled the scene and had not been apprehended, said police spokesperson Stephanie Fryer.
The two victims, ages 16 and 18, were taken to a hospital and are expected to recover.
Barnes said it’s still unclear what led to the shooting.
“Last night’s situation has become commonplace over the last few days here in Madison,” Barnes said.
The city also saw rising gun violence in the lead-up to the July Fourth weekend last year, Barnes said. Shootings have been trending down, the chief noted, but incidents during the past week will likely put the city on pace with 2021.
In other shootings over the past week:
- Dozens of shots were fired at Demetral Park on Friday night. Two homes were struck by stray bullets, but no one was injured.
- Police found 11 shell casings after reports of gunfire near University Ridge Golf Course on the Far West Side just after midnight Saturday.
- A 15-year-old was arrested Saturday evening after police said he and two other juveniles walked into a marsh near Warner Park and shot a gun several times.
- Gunfire rang out on the 2000 block of Fisher Street Wednesday night. No one was injured.
In preparation for the holiday weekend, patrols will be boosted in neighborhoods, parks and convenience stores, Barnes said.
Alongside a visible police presence, Barnes urged residents to report interpersonal conflicts that might escalate into gun violence, adding that “crime prevention is everyone’s responsibility.”
“We want to return Madison to the safe community we all know and love,” the chief said.
Photos: Remembering horrific van crash that killed 7 young people in 1999
Wisconsin State Patrol Sgt. Bradford Altman addresses a news conference March 25, 1999, about the early morning fatal accident near Janesville.
Choan Lane waits as his signature bond is prepared following his initial appearance April 17, 2000, at the Rock County Courthouse in Janesville. Lane and his subscription sales company, YES, were charged in connection with a van crash that killed seven people.
Jeremy Holmes, right, and public defender John Bergstrom appear March 26, 1999, in Rock County Circuit Court, where Holmes was facing 14 charges stemming from a fatal van crash. Holmes, 20, was charged with seven counts of negligent vehicular homicide and five counts of causing great bodily harm.
Jeremy Holmes composes himself at the end of his sentencing hearing June 11, 1999, in Rock County Circuit Court, on charges related to a deadly van crash that killed seven young people. His attorney takes his hand to lead him from the courtroom. Holmes was sentenced to seven years in prison and four years of probation.
The Holmes family listens to testimony June 11, 1999, during the sentencing of their son and brother, Jeremy Holmes. His father, Danny Holmes, is at the far left; sister Jenny Holmes is in the center; and Jeremy's mother, Shelly Martin, is second from the right.
Jaime McFaul, sister of crash victim Peter Christman, reacts as people speak in defense of driver Jeremy Holmes and ask that he receive leniency at a hearing June 11, 1999.
DeAnna Roberts, mother of crash victim Marshall Roberts, pauses in her statement to the court during the sentencing hearing June 11, 1999, for Jeremy Holmes.
Monica Forgues, 16, of Madison, was paralyzed after a van crash that killed seven people. She sits in court May 17, 2000, waiting for the start of the preliminary hearing for Choan Lane, one of the owners of the company involved with the crash.
Choan Lane waits for his sentence to be handed down in Rock Couty Circuit Court in Janesville on Oct. 24, 2000.
Deanna Roberts is comforted Oct. 24, 2000, by husband Albert in Rock County Circuit Court in Janesville, where Choan Lane, 32, was sentenced to three years and seven months on four charges stemming from a 1999 van crash that killed members of Lane's magazine sales crew. Roberts lost her son, Marshall, who was 16, in the crash.
Monica Forgues is wheeled to the witness stand past Choan Lane, right, and his attorney, Gerald Boyle, to offer testimony during Lane's sentencing hearing Oct. 24, 2000, in Rock County Circuit Court in Janesville. While selling magazines for Lane, Forgues was paralyzed in a van crash that killed several of her co-workers.
Choan Lane, 32, sheds a tear during his sentencing in Rock County Circuit Court in Janesville on Oct. 24, 2000. Lane was sentenced three years and seven months on four charges stemming from a van crash that killed members of his magazine sales crew.
Nancy Ashton, left, and Bonita Lettman are relieved as Choan Lane received the maximum allowable sentence in Rock County Circuit Court in Janesville on Oct. 24, 2000, for a fatal crash that killed seven people. Ashton's daughter, Monica Forgues, was paralyzed from the neck down in the crash.
Phil Ellenbecker sits beside his living room shrine for his daughter, Malinda Turvey, on March 23, 2001, nearly two years after she was killed in Janesville when a van crashed while carrying the magazine sales crew she had joined in 1999.
Monica Forgues, center, makes her way into the auditorium to receive her GED diploma on June 13, 2003, from Omega School, as her family and friends follow behind her. Walking behind Monica is her mother, Nancy Ashton. Monica was paralyzed four years earlier in a van crash in which seven people died.
Phil Ellenbecker of Verona holds a photo of his daughter, Malinda Turvey, after testifying March 8, 2004, at the state Capitol to push for increased regulation of businesses that employ traveling sales crews. Malinda, 15 years old in the photo, was killed in a 1999 crash while working on such a crew.
Nancy Ashton, right, assists her daughter, Monica Forgues, during a news conference Oct. 20, 2004, announcing that a $1.85 million settlement had been reached in a van crash in 1999 that killed seven people and paralyzed Forgues.
Victim of a deadly van crash carrying a door-to-door magazine sales crew March 25, 1999, on Interstate 39-90 near Janesville.
Victim of a deadly van crash carrying a door-to-door magazine sales crew March 25, 1999, on Interstate 39-90 near Janesville.
Victim of a deadly van crash carrying a door-to-door magazine sales crew March 25, 1999, on Interstate 39-90 near Janesville.
Victim of a deadly van crash carrying a door-to-door magazine sales crew March 25, 1999, on Interstate 39-90 near Janesville.
Victim of a deadly van crash carrying a door-to-door magazine sales crew March 25, 1999, on Interstate 39-90 near Janesville.
Barnes
Lucas Robinson | Wisconsin State Journal
Breaking News Reporter
Lucas Robinson covers breaking news for the Wisconsin State Journal. He can be reached at (608) 252-6186.
