• 17
  • January
    2012

What started as a dispute on Facebook ended in tragedy when a Milwaukee teenager was fatally shot eight times in the chest last week. He became the city's fifth murder in 2012.

The 16-year-old's wrongful death reportedly occurred just before midnight one evening last week at the corner of North 81st Street and West Villard Avenue. Police say someone shot him several times during a fight outside an apartment building.

The dispute apparently started on Facebook and involved the victim's cousin and ex-girlfriend. Sources say he just got caught in the middle. As of the day after the murder, no arrests had been made.

The victim's aunt tells WTMJ of the killing, "It's real petty. It wasn't worth it. It wasn't."

The boy was a junior at Bradley Tech High School. Grief counselors were reportedly on hand to help students with the loss of their friend. A classmate describes the victim as a good friend.

Police say they are alarmed at the high rate of crime so early in 2012. Five people were killed in the first five days of the year, and a Milwaukee alderman says the year is clearly off to a bad start. It's believed many of the killings are related to gang and drug activity. It's too early to tell if the start to the year is a trend of what's to come, he says.

Hopefully, it isn't, and situations can be avoided that lead to fights that leave innocent people injured or dead.

Source: WTMJ, "Bradley Tech student shot to death in Milwaukee's 5th murder of 2012," Jan. 5, 2012