Precious Lives

Stories about kids, guns and how to stop the violence. Precious Lives, created by 371 Productions, is a 2-year, 100-part weekly radio series about gun violence and young people in the Milwaukee area. The series applies a public health lens to each story to help listeners understand the full scope of the problem: who are the victims and the shooters; how are the weapons obtained; and what can we change about the environment that contributes to violence in Milwaukee?

#004 Precious Lives: But I Couldn’t Fix Him...

WUWM 89.7 FM

Published February 3, 2015 at 10:30 AM CST

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Nine-year-old Marcus DeBack was shot and killed on the playground in 1995.

Emily Forman

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Lisa Ettienne, Marcus' mother.

Emily Forman

Sierra Guyton’s death shocked Milwaukee this past May. The 10-year-old was shot and killed on the playground at Clarke Street School. While Sierra was the last kid killed in a playground shooting, Marcus DeBack was one of the first.

Nine-year-old Marcus DeBack was shot and killed on a playground at N. 55th and W. Wright Streets in 1995. It was one of the earliest playground shootings that Milwaukee can remember.

Marcus was rushed to Children's Hospital, where his mom, Lisa Ettienne now works as a pediatric nurse. Lisa still avoids the ICU.

Children’s Hospital provides hospital-based services for adult victims of violence. Project Ujima is one such service - they work with participants through the grieving process and provide support to family members on their road to recovery. More information is available at PreciousLivesProject.org.

Corresponding Content:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - A child slain, a community in mourning - rewind and repeat

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Precious Lives: Reviving a playground where tragedy struck