'He didn't deserve that': Vigil held for victims of triple homicide near 54th and Mill
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- We're learning more about the three people killed near 54th and Mill Road Sunday, March 27. Milwaukee police continue to investigate all of the deaths as homicides.
The victims were identified as 26-year-old Anthony Thompson, 39-year-old Tyaries McKinney and 52-year-old Clarence Harris.
Thompson and McKinney appear to be brothers, and Thompson and Harris were identified as both living in the building where it happened.
Monday night family and friends of the victims gathered to call for an end to gun violence.
Hundreds of candles again spelled out the names of lives lost, and dozens of balloons were again released into the night sky.
The vigil for victims exposed more pain and suffering, and people are desperate for a change. One woman asked the crowd, "When are we going to stop? When are we going to love our brothers and sisters and watch over our children? Because that's what we have to do right now."
There were no easy answers.
The triple homicide raised Milwaukee's year-to-date homicide count to 48, exactly double where it stood at the same point the year before.
Two of Glenda McKinney's sons were among those killed. She said they did not deserve what happened, and she's glad so many people went to the vigil. She said, "There was much love, because they were good people. They were some good boys, young men."
Glenda said her sons Anthony and Tyaries would often ask to stop by and see her and would tell her, "You need to cook something for us tomorrow. So I'm going to miss those calls. Going to miss their face, going to miss my boys."
Many children were among those that attended the vigil. And several of the gathered adults don't want this pain to become normalized. One woman said, "We need to fight for one another. That means we need to talk to each other and tell each other 'let's be strong. Let's love one another.' Stop hating and hurting and killing people."
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office says police were called to the area around noon and the victims were pronounced dead at the scene around 1:30 p.m.
A close friend of Thompson said he didn't deserve this.
"He ain't never mean no harm to nobody, he loved to stay out of people's way, he didn't bother anybody. He liked to eat, he was a funny dude, like to dress up, liked to worship, got all the jewelry you could think of. He was a good dude, he was young, he didn't deserve that."
Harris' brother says he was worried he would get a call like this some day, and he had urged his brother to move away from the violence in the city before.
Police are still looking for who is responsible for what happened, and are unable to say what led to the shooting at the apartment. They're asking anyone who knows anything to contact them or the Crime Stoppers hotline at 414-224-TIPS.