Just Another 24 hours In A US City

Racine, Wisconsin(pop. 78,000) is a smallish city in Wisconsin USA ....

Abandoned Casket, After Gun Fire Racine

.... its demographics are not particularly remarkable with the racial makeup of the city as 61.8% White, 22.6% African American, 15.6% from other races ... Hispanic or Latino of any race were 20.7% of the population.

However like many cities, crime in the city has been on the rise in recent years, and as of 2018, the chance of becoming a victim of either violent or property crime in Racine is 1 in 37, thus making the city's crime rate higher than 92% of Wisconsin's other cities and towns.

So perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise that at the May the 3rd 2022 funeral of 37-year-old Da’Shontay “Day Day” Lucas King Sr. (b.August 20, 1984, d.May 20, 2022 - shot and killed by Racine police, during a search warrant traffic stop, after fleeing the vehicle while carrying a gun and ignoring demands to drop the weapon), at the Graceland Cemetery, gunfire broke out as a local gang war continued .... at least two of the funeral attendees were shot and injured, with possibly four more wounded, none fatally apparently, after between 20 to 30 shots were fired.

The city of Racine then imposed a 17 hour curfew from 11pm to 6pm on all juveniles under the age of 18. The Ascension All Saints Hospital, where the wounded were treated went in to security lockdown “The safety of our associates, patients, visitors and providers is our top priority,” hospital officials said in a statement to WISN. “Due to a situation offsite, increased security measures have been put in place at Ascension All Saints Hospital. Patients are still able to keep previously scheduled appointments and the emergency department is currently accepting patients. However, out of an abundance of caution, the number of open entrances into the hospital has been reduced and additional security screenings have been implemented.” Mr King was finally buried 4 hours after the shooting incident. 

In a sign of how dysfunctional some families in the US (and elsewhere) are, his official obituary notice said that after 'he graduated in 2005 he soon after began his career in numerous of areas. Most recently he enjoyed working with residents in the group home setting and travelling across the United States working in multiple capacities'.

Killed Over Illegal Gun Possession

It doesn't mention that he was a habitual gun carrying criminal and that even his sister, Natasha Mullen said that it was in King's nature to run from the police. "Every time he was arrested, they had to catch him. They're not going to mention all the things that he has done within his community, they'll just mention all the bad things that he's done in his past," Mullen said.

King had convictions for recklessly endangering safety, a felony, in 2002, after which he was prohibited by law from carrying a gun his entire adult life, but was found guilty of being in possession of a firearm, another felony, in 2003. King was found guilty of a felony drug charge in 2006. At the time of his death, he had three criminal cases open in Wisconsin – a drug charge, being a felon in possession of a firearm again, and bail jumping.

The obituary notice listed him as being born to "to the late Glenda King-Epps and Andre Nunn" and being survived by "Draake King, DaKarrion King and Audimar King; his bonus daughter; Ma’Kiya Brown, his step father; Tony Epps Sr., four sisters; Michell’a Epps, Ishay (Matthew) Epps, Natasha (Dalancey) Mullen, Alexia Hamilton, eight brothers; Dazzmontay King Sr., Tony Epps Jr., Eugene Sills, Keyandre Nunn, Joshua Andrews, Geoffrey and Jordan Cummings, Cameron Winchel, his paternal grandmother; Faye Nunn, his special aunt/mom; Brenda King and a host of aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and family. He was preceded in death by his mother; Glenda King-Epps, father; Andre Nunn, grandmother; Barbara (Nee: Smith) King-Blair, grandfather; Jessie King, uncle; Jeffrey King, cousins; Antonio Strong and Demond Hicks."

Tre Brantley, one of the locals playing basketball nearby, started running to his car the moment he heard the shots, and as bullets hit the fence surrounding the basketball court. He and his brother, Kellyn Foster both got into their car and ducked down, praying they wouldn't get hurt. He added that "Accurately, 20 to 30. I would say. It was a lot. The one initial one and then gunfire. It was terrifying. Within 30 seconds we were all running off the court. we didn’t stop to grab any of our stuff. We didn’t stop to talk about it.”

Racine officials provided this statement:  "Today's heinous shooting at a cemetery while a family was already mourning the loss of a loved one is a new low for these perpetrators of violence in our community. The violence has got to stop! Revenge is not the answer. Ending gun violence is the top priority of the police department and my administration. I have spoken to the Governor and Attorney General to request more resources to support violence prevention. I am instructing the police department to actively enforce our juvenile curfew ordinance through the weekend. Anyone under 18 must be home by 11 PM. This violence must end. If you have any information about the horrific events of the today, I urge you to contact the Racine Police Department immediately." 

Just another 24 hours in a US town .... guns have a logic of their own.