At least 12 people were injured in a rooftop party shooting during a weekend of gun violence in Wisconsin’s capital city
By Jillian Sykes, Chris Boyette, Lauren Mascarenhas and Andy Rose, CNN
(CNN) — At least 12 people were injured when gunfire broke out on the rooftop of an apartment building in Madison, Wisconsin – one of three separate shootings that left one person dead and more than a dozen injured in the city over the weekend.
A dozen victims – some as young as 14 years old – have now reported injuries after the rooftop shooting early Sunday morning, and two are still hospitalized, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said in a news conference Monday. “We had a very violent weekend in Madison,” Barnes told reporters.
A 27-year-old man was killed in a separate shooting in the city Friday, police said. And Sunday night, a drive-by shooting left two injured, with one person still hospitalized in critical condition, Barnes told reporters Monday.
Police don’t currently believe the shootings were connected, Barnes added, “We’re looking at that as an angle, however we have no information to suggest that at this time.”
“Guns are not a solution to conflict, and we must stop normalizing their use and their accessibility,” Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said at the news conference Monday. “The families impacted by these events will never be the same.”
Friday’s shooting ended a five-week streak of no reports of shots fired in Madison, officials said.
Rhodes-Conway called on state lawmakers to enact gun safety measures.
Police have yet to identify a suspect or make arrests in the rooftop shooting and are asking the public for information or videos of the event.
“At this time, we will not be publicly identifying the suspect or a person of interest, as we do not want to jeopardize any leads in this case,” Barnes said.
In the rooftop shooting, 10 people suffered gunshot wounds or grazes, one person was hurt by broken glass and another sustained a shoulder injury, according to police.
Emergency personnel responded around 1 a.m. Sunday to what police now believe was a “sneak bash,” or an unauthorized party in a private setting, Barnes said Monday.
Police found one teen who suffered multiple gunshot wounds bleeding in the street, and rushed into the apartment building on Johnson Street, Barnes said.
“Officers watched as dozens of people rushed out of the building, running in panic and tripping over one another, simply trying to find safety,” he said.
After running up 12 flights of stairs to reach those at the party, police said they found a chaotic scene.
Police believe there were at least 25 people on the rooftop, Barnes said Monday. Authorities initially estimated there were several hundred people on the scene.
Victims range in age from 14 to 23, with some victims still in high school, authorities said.
Police are looking at “digital evidence” and are still working to determine who organized the party, Barnes said.
The Madison Fire Department took five people with gunshot wounds to the hospital by ambulance, while other victims reported to the hospital on their own. Four ambulances and two engine companies helped triage, treat and transport patients at the scene, the department said in a statement.
Earlier this year, the Madison police and fire departments teamed up to train for how to respond to a situation like this one, Barnes previously said, “however, we didn’t expect to put it into practice so soon.”
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CNN’s Lechelle Benken contributed to this report.
