In the early morning hours of January 9, 2021, the life of 13-year-old Nevaeha Ware, a Black female, was tragically cut short in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was a passenger in a vehicle when another car, described as a dark-colored vehicle with tinted windows, approached and an occupant opened fire. Several shots were fired into the car Nevaeha was in, and she was the only one struck by the gunfire. She was rushed to a local hospital but succumbed to her injuries.
The shooting occurred around 6:46 a.m. near the 6500 block of West Congress Street.
The incident was not a random act of violence, according to family members. It is believed that the people in the car with Nevaeha knew the shooter and that there was an ongoing dispute between them. Her great-aunt mentioned that Nevaeha had snuck out of her house to meet with a friend on the other side of town and never made it back home. The family was left devastated by the loss, a pain compounded by the fact that this was the second child they had lost to gun violence. Nevaeha's brother had been shot and killed in 2017 when she was just nine years old.
In the wake of the shooting, Milwaukee police launched an investigation and appealed to the public for any information that could lead to an arrest. At the time of the initial reports, no suspects had been taken into custody, and police were actively seeking to identify those responsible for Nevaeha's death. The circumstances leading up to the shooting remained under investigation. Friends and family remembered Nevaeha as a fun and happy child with a big smile who dreamed of one day becoming a doctor to help children in need.
