Police are currently investigating a homicide after six people were found dead at a home in Milwaukee, according to local officials.
Officers were responding to a call from concerned neighbors Sunday afternoon when they found four men and one woman dead at the residence, Paul Formolo, assistant chief of the Milwaukee Police Department, said at a news conference later in the day.
In a tweet early Monday morning, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s office said a sixth body had been found at the location.
The sixth victim was identified as a man. No other details on the victims have been released, with autopsies scheduled for Monday.
“Citizens of our community had concerns with the occupants that resided there and it’s a normal call for us to respond to. We do it all the time,” Formolo said during Sunday’s press conference. “And we came here and unfortunately today, we found five people that were deceased.”
The five victims located on Sunday appeared to have suffered gunshot wounds, police reported. It is unclear how the sixth person died.
Formolo said a motive “and any information regarding any involved suspects is not known to us right now” as he urged anyone with information to come forward.
Milwaukee officials condemned the incident, which comes amid a rise in violence that saw the Wisconsin city hit a record 197 homicides in 2021.
“The community is tired. We are tired of seeing people’s lives snuffed out too soon in preventable situations,” said Arnitta Holliman, Milwaukee’s director of the office of violence prevention.
“This is absolutely preventable. Any of the gun violence that we’re seeing is preventable and we cannot continue this same trajectory that we’ve seen for the last two years.”
“That means each and every one of us has to step up, speak up, stand up, do something to change the course of what’s happening in our community,” she said.
In a statement on Twitter, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson on Sunday called the incident “horrific.”
“First, I offer my condolences to the families and friends of the victims. Whatever the circumstances, we must share the grief of those who have lost ones,” he said.
He also condemned the rise of violence in Milwaukee, saying: “It is important not to feel numbed by the ongoing violence in our community. A horrible crime has again occurred, and it is not a movie or a fictional account. These victims died in our city, in one of our neighborhoods.”
Johnson said city officials remained “steadfast in our efforts to reduce violence.”
“We will achieve that through strengthened and improved law enforcement, through community prevention and through a renewed commitment to prevention,” he said.
