A woman was fatally shot and two men were wounded in a shooting incident Thursday night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, according to police. Officers are still searching for the unknown gunman.
The Milwaukee Police Department told several local news outlets that police officers responded to reports of a shooting just before 10 p.m. in the 500 block of Water Street. Roads near the city’s Clybourn Street were closed off by police.
Police didn’t confirm where the shooting unfolded. However, sources told ABC-affiliate WISN 12 News that shots were fired inside Brownstone Social Lounge, while CBS58 reported that officers were gathered near the downtown lounge. The department separately told WISN 12 News that the shooting stemmed from an argument.
Thursday’s shooting comes amid a rise in homicides in Milwaukee. As of February 9, 28 homicides were reported in the city, compared with 14 between January 1 and February 9 last year—a 100 percent spike, according to statistics from the Milwaukee Police Department.
The Brownstone Social Lounge said on its Facebook page that an individual opened fire after being denied entry.
“While celebrating Black History Month, Brownstone Social Lounge is yet another victim to the growing violence happening in Milwaukee, and now apparently spreading to the downtown area.” The venue said that it “fell prey to a shooter who was denied access.”
“The shooter left three employees injured in the wake of being rejected from entrance, and now the Brownstone staff is left to pray for the swift recovery of their colleagues.”
According to local media outlet OnMilwaukee, the Brownstone Social Lounge opened on December 1, 2019. It describes itself on its Instagram page as the city’s “premier downtown lounge offering the perfect atmosphere to eat, drink, and be social.”
On Monday, Milwaukee Acting Mayor Cavalier Johnson addressed the rise in violent crime in the city, calling public safety Milwaukee’s “greatest challenge to success.”
“Over the last month we have seen children shot and killed, a horrific murder of six people across the street from one of my childhood homes, five girls shot outside a high school basketball game, and three law enforcement officers wounded by gunfire,” Johnson said.
Two men were killed in two separate incidents on Tuesday, Milwaukee police said. In the first, Michael Stevenson Jones Jr., 26, was pronounced dead at the scene after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds at around 9:36 p.m. near 28th and Melvina, FOX6 Milwaukee reported.
Julio Angel Olivencia, 28, was killed in the second shooting incident around 11:25 p.m. near 67th and Ruby. No arrests have been made in either case, police told the news outlet.
Newsweek has contacted the Milwaukee Police Department and Brownstone Social Lounge for comment.
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