Mayor responds after multi-day streak of shootings, violence in Kenosha | Local News

The Fourth of July in Kenosha marked the beginning of a multi-day streak of violence in the city, with three shootings leaving at least six wounded and one dead.

On the night of July 4, five people were victims of a mass shooting that killed a 20-year-old man and injured four adults in the 6300 block of 25th Avenue in the Uptown neighborhood.

Family members identified the 20-year-old fatal shooting victim as Anderail K. Armstrong, who was also known as “Lil Cash.” They have established a GoFundMe page to help pay for Armstrong’s funeral expenses.

Just a day later another shooting occurred in the Uptown neighborhood just blocks away from the July 4th mass shooting. Police responding to a call in the 6100 block of 24th Avenue found a vehicle struck by gunfire unoccupied in the area. While investigating, officers received information that the man was inside a nearby house and suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. The 49-year-old man was transported to the hospital.

On Wednesday night, a man arrived at a local hospital with multiple gunshots to his upper body after being shot in the Wilson Heights neighborhood. The 43-year-old man has since been released from the hospital.

On Friday, the department also responded to a report of a gunshot that occurred near a gas station in the 5200 block of 39th Avenue on Friday at 1:45 a.m.

In another incident Downtown, the July 4th carnival was shut down early due to fights breaking out between various groups reportedly in their late teens.

Antaramian said the violence over the past week have two main sources.

The fights that broke out at the carnival Downtown are from a greater need for youth-focused programs to keep them from trouble, which Antaramian said typically enjoy support from the community.

“The city has, over the years, continually tried to expand its services for young people to keep them active,” Antaramian said.

The shootings, however, are a more difficult problem to handle, Antaramian said.

“That is a much more difficult issue to deal with,” Antaramian said. “We just have much too many guns in our community.”

The Kenosha Police Department have seized over 140 guns in 2022, arrested 18 people for aggravated assault with a firearm and 53 people for concealed carrying of a weapon.

Antaramian criticized attempts at the state level to reduce the age for concealed carry of weapons to 18, arguing that addressing gun violence requires more background checks and more police officers.

“Kenosha is not any different from anywhere else in the country about gun violence,” Antaramian said. “It’s a multi-faceted issue.”

He said the city needs to expand the police department to better address gun violence and other crime, and plans to hold a referendum in August to add 10 new police officers to the local police department.

As of Saturday, no suspects have been identified in any of the shootings. Kenosha Police Public Information Officer Lt. Joseph Nosalik said detectives are “working countless hours on those shootings and trying to put the pieces together.”

“If you are aware of somebody who has a firearm and shouldn’t have the firearm, call the police,” Nosalik said. “If you see something, say something. We need people to cooperate with police. We need people to call the police and give us information.”

Nosalik asked for anyone with information to contact the detective bureau at 262-605-5203 or Kenosha Area Crime Stoppers at 262-656-7333. People who call Crime Stoppers remain anonymous.