GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — Green Bay Police are investigating two shootings, both of which happened yesterday, and both of which are believed to be related.
They’re part, police say, of a series of shootings that has sent Green Bay’s violent crime numbers skyrocketing this year.
The first was a drive by shooting that injured two near the intersection of 9th Street and Ashland Avenue. That shooting sent two people to the hospital and another person to jail after police found them running away from the scene with a handgun that they did not legally possess. Police are looking for 24-year-old Seanya Ramon Holliday in relation to that shooting.
Hours later, and shortly after the man arrested in the first shooting posted bond, a car containing a man, woman, and five-year-old child was shot 15 times in the 1200 block of Berner Street. The woman was shot in the arm, the child was hurt by flying glass. Police say the man was likely the target of the attack.
Police Chief Andrew Smith says a single group, consisting of around 21 individuals, are responsible for both shootings.
“Mr. Holliday… is part of this loose association of individuals that are in various disputes over, quite frankly, ridiculous things,” Smith told WTAQ.
The groups are, according to Smith, not gangs, but instead two separate factions of loosely associated individuals, the makeup of which is constantly in flux as individual members fall in and out of favor between the two groups. The arguments stem, allegedly, from romantic disputes and personal insults.
There have been 48 shootings in Green Bay since January, more than double what were reported last year.
“60-70% of those shootings, we believe, are attributable to this group of people shooting back and forth at each other’s cars, each other’s houses, and at each other,” said Smith.
Smith says investigating and stopping the shootings is the number one priority of the Green Bay Police Department.
“I’ve got 15 detectives working on this. It is the highest priority of the Green Bay Police department,” Smith said. “I’ve got four officers working in the field every night only on this.”
Police have come into contact with community and religious leaders in an effort to cool the heads within the group, but Wednesday’s violence is a troubling sign that the violence may be escalating.
“Fifteen shots into a car with a five-year-old kid in it is absolutely horrendous,” said Smith of Wednesday’s violence. “This should not be happening in civilized society.”
The police department is also working with federal prosecutors to bring federal charges against those within the group.
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