Sheriff Clarke releases statement following weekend violence

MILWAUKEE (WITI) --  Sheriff David Clarke issued a statement Monday, April 8th regarding a rash of violent incidents that occurred in Milwaukee this past weekend. Police are investigating eight shootings that occurred in Milwaukee this weekend -- and two stabbings.

In a statement Sheriff Clarke said: "Less than 72 hours after the local media fell once again for the statistical hocus-pocus to mask the truth about violence in Milwaukee (19 murders versus 17 in the first 90 days), eight people were shot over the weekend and two more were found murdered this morning.  It reads like what is happening in Chicago.

There is another serious problem in Milwaukee that is not being covered adequately, that being the number of people shot who survive. Aggravated assaults were up 33% in 2012. Those do not end up as homicides only by the grace of God.  (Yes, there is a God).  

In 2012, firearm related aggravated assaults increased 22%. With the 2011 non-fatal shooting tally at 473 (up 18% from 2010) an increase of that magnitude would put the 2012 number well above 500.  That's almost 1.5 people shot per day in Milwaukee! Why doesn’t the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel point that out?

Stop blaming the tool that is illegally used to shoot people.  I challenge Chief Flynn, Mayor Barrett, County Executive Abele and Judge Kremers to call for sending anyone convicted of a crime using a gun to prison - not county jail, not stayed sentences, not probation, not community sanctions, not deferred prosecutions, not electronic monitoring.

Then, and only then, will we see a reduction in gun violence."

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