A 75-year-old man said he still feels bad for shooting a suspected robber outside his Wisconsin home. He shot and killed a 32-year-old woman, part of a group allegedly trying to rob him, on Dec. 26.
Henry Bell has been robbed in the area before, but this time he noticed one of the robbers was armed. He walked passed the robbers as one of them told him to give them his money, Fox 6 reported.
The suspects then ran up to Bell, but his 95-year-old mother was on their porch. Bell’s sister said their mother waits by the door with a gun when she knows her son is coming home, because of previous robberies, according to another report by Fox 6.
As Bell came up the stairs the suspects tried to grab him. His mother tried to fire the gun, but “with her arthritis, her fingers wouldn’t work right,” said Bell’s sister, Helen Smith, via Fox 6. Bell’s mother then handed him the gun, and he fired. A 32-year-old woman died from her injuries at the scene.
“I still feel bad and tears come out of my eyes every time I think about it,” Bell told Fox 6. “I shot a couple of times but was not trying to hit anybody. I was just trying to move the people.”
Bell was in police custody after the shooting but was then released as police continue the investigation.
“They are lowlife scum. Lowlife. They’re targeting old people. It’s an easy target. Stop the violence. Don’t do it. Leave people alone,” said Smith.
Commenters on a Fox News article applaud Bell for his actions and don’t think he needs to feel too much grief.
“Feel bad if you need to. You may not have been feeling ANYTHING if you hadn’t pulled that trigger …” commented 1way3639.
“Don’t feel bad, you did what you had to do. … They shouldn’t have been trying to rob you anyway …” Commented ZombieSlayer67.
“Henry; you did the right thing. Just think if hadn’t when you got the chance, she would have killed you, your sister, and then went on to the next, who knows how many elderly,” commented Murdock2000.
The incident was one of 13 shootings that took place in Milwaukee on either Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or the day after Christmas. Four of those shootings were fatal, according to Fox 6.
USA Today puts Milwaukee at No. 7 on its list of the 25 Most Dangerous Cities in America. That’s one spot below No. 6 Little Rock, Arkansas, and one spot above Rockford, Illinois, at No. 8.
On other lists, Milwaukee’s crime ranking can be even higher. A list on World Atlas puts Milwaukee at No. 4 in the country.
On Dec. 30, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and members of the Milwaukee Police Department and the Office of Violence Prevention spoke of falling numbers in Milwaukee’s homicide rate and nonfatal shootings, Fox 6 reported.
For 2018 in Milwaukee, homicides dropped by 17 percent and nonfatal shootings fell by 19 percent, according to Fox 6.
“It is impossible for us to ever hire enough police officers, enough firefighters to be at every single altercation that you have in the city of Milwaukee,” said Barrett, via Fox 6.
But Barrett offered a suggestion for success.
“We need to build the trust between the community and the police department.”
