Milwaukee's Grenade Problem

News of a grenade-wielding man robbing downtown hotels and attempting to carjack a Marquette University student while she was in a campus parking structure is not a good thing for the city or the university.

TMJ4 has the details:

A man with a grenade robbed two downtown hotels and threatened to carjack a Marquette University student before he was cornered and captured in a parking structure at 5th and Clybourn, Milwaukee police said Sunday.

Milwaukee police say the 49-year-old Wisconsin man robbed the Hampton Inn and Suites at 1st and Wisconsin at approximately 3 p.m. He reportedly put a grenade on the counter and demanded money before escaping westbound on Wisconsin Avenue.

Half an hour later, he allegedly threatened a 19-year-old Marquette student at a parking structure at 13th and Wells, demanding her keys and car. Police say he used the grenade and a knife as weapons, but the woman escaped unharmed.

...Milwaukee police and University Public Safety officers locked down the parking structure, but “the suspect was not found, nor was any weapon,” said University Spokeswoman Mary Pat Pfeil.

At 6:30, the sought man made another appearance, this time robbing the Doubletree Hotel at 6th and Wisconsin again using the grenade as his weapon. Milwaukee police gave chase, however, and the suspect was cornered on the 4th floor of a parking structure at 5th and Clybourn. Scanner talk indicated the man had pulled the pin from the grenade. The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department’s Bomb Squad determined the grenade was inert.

Does Marquette University need to become a gated community to keep thugs out? Fence in the place?

Just as with UWM and its crime problems, Marquette cannot get the reputation that the campus is an unsafe environment for students.

Of course, this was only one incident, albeit a very odd one.

How often do you hear about a grenade being used in robberies or a carjacking?

Never?

Think about it. How often is Mayor Tom Barrett on TV expressing his outrage about all the ILLEGAL grenades on the city's streets?

Thankfully, the student wasn't physically harmed, but she had to be terrified.

Sunday's events must heighten parents' concerns that their sons and daughters are attending school and living in a dangerous area.

Perception is what counts here.

An image of a guy with a grenade threatening a female student is not something Marquette wants to include with its recruitment information.