Robbery crew targeting Milwaukee’s Riverwest, Upper East Side, two in custody

Milwaukee police are investigating a robbery crew that has targeted the city’s Riverwest and Upper East Side neighborhoods.

In an email statement, Milwaukee Police Department said that a robbery crew had targeted those neighborhoods and they had arrested an 18-year-old and a 17-year-old in connection to it. Police said they are looking at the crew for several robberies in the area.

The robberies also occurred as a series of July 24 robberies in the downtown area during a Northwestern Mutual event.

The police said in a statement that those robberies occurred around midnight on the 300 block of South 2nd Street, the 200 block of West National Avenue and the 500 block of North Plankinton Avenue.

Local television station WITI-TV (FOX6) reported that a police captain had asked a private security group for help in response to the crew in an email.

Milwaukee police declined to immediately make the email available to the Journal Sentinel. The Journal Sentinel filed an open records request for the email.

Milwaukee police said it was currently unknown if the crew targeting Riverwest and Upper East Side is tied to the downtown robberies.

Authorities said they are not sharing further details on the robbery crew as they continue to seek additional suspects. Charges have not been filed, police said.

This year there have been 1,121 robberies, through July 31, according to Milwaukee police data. That’s a 6% increase from last year and 7% from 2022.