'I don't know if the shooters were stupid': Milwaukee mayor angrily reacts after 13-month-old gunned down in hail of bullets (VIDEO)
Bill Thao, a 13-month-old boy who had just learned to walk, was fatally wounded after a Milwaukee home his family was visiting was sprayed with gunfire Saturday night.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, December 30, 2014, 12:22 AM
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GOFUNDMECaught in the deadly barrage was Bill Thao, a 13-month-old boy who had just learned to walk.
A 13-month-old playing with toys on a table was struck and killed after a Milwaukee home was sprayed with gunfire Saturday night, police said.
"Dozens of shots rang out, breaking the silence of a normally very peaceful neighborhood," Milwaukee Police Capt. Aaron Rapp told WITI. Nearly 30 bullet holes were visible in the house.
Caught in the deadly barrage was Bill Thao, a 13-month-old boy who had just learned to walk. He was standing in the front room of a duplex when the bullets began peppering the home through the front window, according to reports.
"The doctors tried to stop the bleeding, but we were told the bullet had severed an artery," the boy's father, Somboon Thao, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "They could not stop the bleeding."
The Thaos were visiting the home of a relative two days after Christmas when the gunfire began after 6 p.m. The family arrived just 15 minutes before, a relative said.
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The infant, who was affectionately known as "Chunky little Giant," died at the hospital.
In an emotional video posted to YouTube one day after his death, little Bill rests in the arms of his mother, Suabna Xiong, as he blows kisses at the camera and someone says "bye, bye."
"Clearly, anybody who would do what happened here yesterday has no moral compass," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said at a news conference. "Dozens of bullets into a home filled with people who had nothing to do with whatever they were mad about.
"I don't know if the shooters were stupid. I don't know whether they were on drugs. I don't know if they had the wrong house. But as far as we can tell, the people in the home had nothing to do with shots being fired."
GOFUNDMEThe infant, who was affectionately known as 'Chunky little Giant,' died at the hospital.
Police said ballistics will show if more than one gun was used.
A GoFundMe page was set up to help pay for infant's funeral.
"In a blink of an eye tragedy hit my family so hard it's still so surreal to the entire family," wrote MaiLao Lee, a cousin who set up theGoFundMe page. "Last year around this time we were gathering and eating so much celebrating the holidays. Christmas and NY's will never be the same again that's for sure. How could any human being ever forget anyone who once existed in their life and then taken away so tragically? No parent should or deserves to bury their child this way. I still can't believe this time it's us."
