Victim: 'I just played dead' (Racine, WI Shooting)

RACINE (AP) - Multiple shooters fired several times at people in a Racine parking lot in a weekend incident that killed three and wounded four more, a girlfriend of one of the victims says.

The woman told the Journal Times of Racine that gunfire erupted all around the parking lot near the Mr. Kool bar around 1:50 a.m. Sunday after she left the bar with her boyfriend, Aaron Woods, 23. He was shot to death, and she was wounded in the shoulder and back.

The 28-year-old woman, identified only as Tasha, didn't give her last name because she feared for her safety, the newspaper said.

"I fell to the ground and just laid there," she said. "The guys with guns walked past me, and I just played dead because I thought if I moved they would kill me."

"I shook him, and he wouldn't respond. I went to call 911, and that's when police showed up," she said.

No one had been arrested as of Monday night, and police were still investigating what may have motivated the shootings, Sgt. William Macemon said.

"We're not ruling anything out, but we're not coming out and saying it's gang-related at this point," he said.

Well, Shazam! It WAS gang-related. Who woulda thunk it? *Rolleyes*

Cops: Intra-gang clash led to triple slaying
July 20, 2005

RACINE (AP) - Police said Tuesday that a weekend triple homicide was caused by members of the same gang who had a dispute, possibly over a game of dice, a week earlier.

Three young men died in the shooting early Sunday in a municipal parking lot, and four others were injured.

Racine Police Lt. Kurt Wahlen said some of the victims were gang members who also shot others.

"It had been building, there had been a couple of fights over the matter, and it ultimately erupted in an exchange of gunfire," Wahlen said Tuesday.

Aaron Woods, 23, Frank Mister, 22, and Ryan Lockridge, 23, all of Racine, were killed in the shooting. Three men in their 20s and a 28-year-old woman who said she was Woods' girlfriend were injured.

Wahlen would not name the south side gang, calling its members "a bunch of thugs" he did not want to make famous.

He said police arrested several people for outstanding warrants who were at the scene but were not involved in the fight, including one felon for possession of a handgun. A dozen more were wanted by police.

About 50 to 100 people were at the scene, but all but one direct witness left without speaking to police afterward, some taking guns and spent casings with them, Wahlen said. Most were still reluctant to come forward Tuesday, he said.

Police recovered 20 bullet casings, some 9mm in size.

Acknowledging the city's problem with gang violence, Mayor Gary Becker said he would direct the Police Department to fill seven unfilled positions, bringing the city's force to 200, and ask for increased patrols in high-crime areas by the end of the week.

Ten people have been killed in Racine this year, double the total for last year. Racine, a city of about 82,000 people, has not had double-digit homicides since 1997, when it had 11.

Church groups, the Racine NAACP and elected officials planned a meeting for Thursday to address the rise in violence.

"We have failed, but the youth of the community has also failed," Becker said. "It's not just our job, it's everyone's job as a community to come together."

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/stories//index.php?ntid=47522&ntpid=2

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