Coronavirus

Milwaukee County Has Record Year For Homicides

Cases of COVID-19 are declining in Wisconsin, but homicide rates are rising in Milwaukee County.

Milwaukee County Has Record Year For Homicides
Nam Y. Huh / AP
SMS

In Wisconsin, there is some good news on the COVID front. Cases in the state are showing a steady decline. 

The seven-day average fell below 4,000 this week for the first time in nearly a month. The seven-day average is still not where they would like it to be and community spread remains high. The pandemic is straining desperate communities and spiking violence in and around Milwaukee. Milwaukee County has recorded more homicides in 2020 than ever before and it has a disparate racial impact. 

"We are suffering the effects the general public," said. Hamid Abd-Al-Jabbar. "It affects the Black and brown community harder because they are a community that has a lack of resources." 

Of the more than 200 residents killed in Milwaukee County so far this year, a majority were Black Americans.