A gunman fired three shots and threatened security guards at the West Milwaukee Walmart Supercenter on Greenfield Avenue Sunday night before fleeing on foot, according to a caller who alerted authorities. West Milwaukee police responded to the weapons complaint around 9 p.m., and officials say no one was struck by the gunfire.
The caller told authorities the suspect fired three shots and threatened security before running from the scene, according to WISN. As of the station's report, the suspect's whereabouts remained unknown, and officials had not determined what prompted the shots to be fired. WISN says it reached out to police for more information and was still awaiting a response as the story continued to develop.
The Supercenter sits at 4140 W. Greenfield Ave., according to Walmart's own store directory, making it one of the primary big-box retail hubs serving both West Milwaukee and the surrounding Milwaukee neighborhoods. Store #5669 has had loss prevention and asset protection roles advertised in active Lensa job listings, and security was reportedly threatened Sunday night.
A Retail Hub With a History of Gunfire
Sunday's incident is not the first time this stretch of Greenfield Avenue has drawn a police response involving weapons. In August 2024, West Milwaukee police responded to the same Walmart after a report that a person had been struck in the head with a gun during a parking lot assault, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Years earlier, in December 2014, officers investigated a shooting in the same parking lot after shots were fired and suspects fled in a dark sedan, with no injuries reported, per FOX6 News Milwaukee.
The store has also been the site of an armed robbery. In October 2013, a suspect threatened a cashier inside the 4100 block Walmart and fled on foot with cash, FOX6 News Milwaukee reported at the time. Taken together, the incidents point to a commercial property that has repeatedly drawn West Milwaukee police for violent calls over more than a decade.
A Busy Weekend for Gun Violence Across the County
Sunday's shots-fired call also came just weeks after West Milwaukee police responded to a separate incident on September 12, when a pickup truck opened fire on an occupied car near Miller Park Way and W. Lincoln Ave., as Hoodline reported. That shooting occurred less than two miles from the Walmart along another heavily traveled commercial corridor in the village.
The Walmart incident also landed amid a violent weekend across Milwaukee County. Just hours earlier, on October 10, overnight shootings in nearby Milwaukee left one person dead and another wounded, with the Milwaukee Police Department investigating separate shootings at North 77th Street and West Carmen Avenue, and at North 94th Street and West Thurston Avenue, according to FOX6 News Milwaukee.
Small Village, Big Retail Footprint
West Milwaukee is a compact, high-density village covering just 1.12 square miles with a population of roughly 4,114 residents as of the 2020 Census, according to data compiled by Census Reporter.
No charges had been announced in connection with Sunday's shooting.
The suspect's identity, motive, and location remain unknown, and WISN says the story is still developing as police continue to investigate.
