Chrisima Murry, a 14-year-old Black female, was shot and killed on February 23, 2017, in a Milwaukee neighborhood near North 50th Street and West Fairmount Avenue. The shooting occurred in the 5000 block of West Fairmount Avenue, where reports indicated that some type of fight or confrontation had taken place shortly before gunfire erupted. Chrisima was found outside on the grass after the shots were fired.
A nearby resident, Myrtle Wittler, recalled being on the telephone near her front window when she suddenly heard gunshots. Frightened by the sound, she moved away from the window and into another part of her home. When she later looked outside, she could see someone lying on the grass. Wittler initially did not realize that the person who had been shot was such a young student.
Chrisima was a ninth-grade student attending Assata High School, a Milwaukee alternative school serving students considered at risk. Her mother, LaWanda McDowell, said Chrisima had previously hoped to attend Milwaukee High School of the Arts. She had ambitions that extended well beyond school, describing dreams of becoming a singer, dancer, actress and model. Her mother remembered her as someone who wanted to become a star.
In the immediate aftermath, investigators were searching for the person responsible, but Chrisima's mother said she had no idea who would have wanted to kill her or what had led to the shooting. Information circulating in the neighborhood suggested that a fight had broken out around 50th Street and Fairmount Avenue before the gunfire, but McDowell said she had received no clear explanation of what happened or why Chrisima became the victim.
One of the most frustrating aspects for the family was the apparent number of people who had been outside in the neighborhood when the shooting occurred. McDowell believed people had witnessed something, yet weeks passed without the information needed to identify Chrisima's killer. She publicly appealed to anyone who had been present, seen the confrontation, or knew what happened to provide information to Milwaukee police. By early May 2017, she feared that the investigation into her child's killing was receiving too little attention and described the case as falling through the cracks.
May 1 would have been Chrisima's 15th birthday. Instead of celebrating it with her, relatives and friends gathered to remember her. Her five siblings wore jackets honoring her, while other loved ones released or carried pink balloons. The gathering also became another opportunity for the family to plead for witnesses to break their silence and help police determine who fired the fatal shots.
No publicly available reporting located for the case identifies a named suspect, an arrest, criminal charges, a trial or a conviction in Chrisima Murry's killing. Current online cold-case listings continue to include her death among Milwaukee Police Department homicide cases, indicating that the person responsible has not been publicly identified through an arrest or prosecution.
