Episode | #001

How Do You Measure the Loss of a Five-Year-Old Girl?

Laylah Petersen’s mother, Ashley Fogl, and close family friend, Amanda Legler, express their questions, thoughts and feelings after the tragedy of the 5-year-old’s murder.

How do you measure the loss of a five year old girl? Laylah Christiauna Petersen was a granddaughter, a daughter, a sister, a niece, a classmate, and a best friend. Now she’s another face of gun deaths in Milwaukee. Laylah was shot and killed in November, while sitting on grandfather’s lap, in her grandparents home, reading with her older sister before bedtime. A bullet pierced the wall striking Laylah in her head. The family still doesn’t know who did it, or why.

More coverage by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

UPDATE: On October 20, 2015 it was announced that three men have been arrested in connection to the death of Laylah.

You can read more about it here.

 

 

Photos provided by Laylah’s family and by Mark Hoffman of the Journal Sentinel

Additional Precious Lives content can be found on our media partner pages: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WUWM, WisconsinWatch.

Related Episodes

Planting A Legacy for Za’layia

Episode #079

“Each year we want [the garden] just to grow, and grow and grow.... Her little body can’t grow anymore so this is her body, and I want people to realize that. This is her...

Preparing for a Career in Law Enforcement

Episode #073

“Wherever I’m policing all I know is I’m responsible for that community and their problems are our problems now.”Police Aides Sergio Rivera and Jada Greer grew up...

Unwavering love in the Sherman Park community

Episode #070

“I always think that the city wears its issues on its sleeve. And in the suburbs, it's harder to know people sometimes. I feel like there's more transparency in proximity,...

A Portal to Answers

Episode #068

“What is the point?...of you know, you going out and doing something so illegal and so pathetic to actually send people through pain that's unnecessary. You know? Like why?...

Moms who carry concealed

Episode #067

“I was scared to even look at a gun until I knew I was one hundred percent better. So I feel like it kind of took me a little bit to get back to where I used to be to,...

Can a Haircut Prevent Youth Violence?

Episode #057

“A haircut you feel better, it’s transformative... You come in a barbershop one way. And you leave out another way. When you feel a different way you act a different way....

My son doesn’t have that street knowledge

Episode #056

“I understand that in this society, in this society, you got to know your child. He’s a follower, you know? I got to not let him be led by the wrong people. Because when...

Seeking stories behind the numbers

Episode #055

“Here’s where I always struggle, I struggle because we have so many good things in Milwaukee and we have a persistent problem. If we’re looking at Milwaukee in 2015 and...

A teenage girl’s gun violence survival guide

Episode #054

“My house right here! They down the street, like three houses down, hiding they gun. Somebody down there dead. I know who it is. What if they wasn’t done? What if they...

He’s more than a mentor, he’s my pops.

Episode #052

“And everything run in the family. Your family drug dealers and thugs, that’s all that’s going to run in the family. I ain’t saying nothing against they families,...

Giovonnie Cameron

Episode #051

“My son never was allowed to play with guns. He never got it for Christmas, anyone bought him a gun I gave it back. But if I would've allowed him to, then he would've know...

Before He Pulled the Trigger

Episode #049

“He had told his mom the day of this incident that he didn’t want to live any more. Nobody knows that he had just a big blow up with his mom that he didn’t want to live...

Kids who fight in school need the most care

Episode #047

“Well, I mean that's so much a part of us, where we live, who we're around our environment. When you don't have that support system. It’s so important. When you don't...

The cost of a single bullet

Episode #046

“Who is bearing the cost of these actions, when these kids do actually make decisions. And you know it comes down to the person, the victim. You know you get victimized...

Promoting Peace, Not Youth Violence Prevention

Episode #045

This episode originally aired as Episode 33.When we first aired this story Fidel Verdin had a vision for a park, on MLK Dr. and Ring St. One that promotes peace. Since then,...

Life After Lockup

Episode #044

“That’s not really a society that I think anybody in the community wants, somebody returning with that mentality that I’m going to do whatever I need to do to live....

Planting Seeds to Create Resilient Girls

Episode #039

“I know the whole neighborhood heard what happened in my house that night because it spills over and the screams and fighting and the arguing.  And so why... then you see...

Foundation for a Turnaround

Episode #038

“At the risk of sounding too simplistic, I don’t think this is something we can’t get our hands around very quickly. I do believe that we have a number of groups across...

The Price of Doing the Right Thing

Episode #037

“I feel that I did do the right thing, I did the only thing. I had a choice to make and I made the right decision, just like my son had a choice to make. He made the right...

Meeting People Where They Are

Episode #036

“The men in our community need to see people that look like them, um amongst them, who have overcome the challenges, reaching back and helping to lift them up”With the...

Not a Violent Kid, a Surviving Kid

Episode #034

At 15 Tyrone Williams was the youngest person in Wisconsin waived into adult court for a robbery case. He rapped at his sentencing in 1997. He wrote lyrics about his life -...

Promoting Peace, Not Youth Violence Prevention

Episode #033

Amidst the various organizations, discussion panels and anti-gun summits to “end the violence” in Milwaukee, Fidel Verdin is trying something different. He says that...

Landscaping to Renew Hope

Episode #032

After the loss of a loved one, we often see friends and family cope with makeshift memorials. Teddy bears, t-shirts, candles and bottles are gathered to help commemorate a...

What Young People Know About Guns

Episode #031

In Wisconsin, lots of kids get early exposure to guns. At outdoor stores you can get pint-size pink rifles to teach kids how to hunt. But sometimes kids get hold of guns...

Can a Haircut Prevent Youth Violence?

Episode #029

Last week Precious Lives traveled to Minneapolis. We learned about the City’s Blueprint for Action to Prevent Youth Violence. You might remember the former Minneapolis...

Few Places Left Where Milwaukee Teens Feel Safe

Episode #027

As Milwaukee mourns ten individuals lost to gun violence in seven days, family members Shateria and Dearia Wiley, Nasiera Cloyd and Timasia Mack describe the scene on Lake...

Trauma Training Makes Way for Learning

Episode #024

When we lose someone in Milwaukee to gun violence, there’s a radiating impact. Take 5 year old Laylah Petersen. She was killed inside her home. The result of a drive-by...

The Shooting at the Vigil

Episode #023

Vigils are meant to offer solidarity and comfort to grieving people, a pause from the chaos of murder. But in May as a group gathered for 18 year old Kendrai Walker’s...

The Trauma of Shooting a Teen in Self-Defense

Episode #020

Concealed carry holder and nurse, Victoria Davison-Adams shot a 15 year old in self-defense. She’s learning how to cope with the trauma. Victoria Davison-Adams, a...

Homicide Prompts Neighborhood Peace, Not War

Episode #019

21 year old Raymond Harris, also known as Lil’ Ray, was fatally shot near an orchard managed by Walnut Way Conservation Corp. – a neighborhood group in Milwaukee’s...

Provide Love Now to Avoid Lock-Up Later

Episode #013

The first half of 2015 has been an exciting time for leaders at Milwaukee’s Sojourner Family Peace Center.  The organization announced recently that it has exceeded its...

The Thao Family’s Immigration Story

Episode #010

Somboon Thao and his family escaped a repressive life in Laos to start better one in the United States. But then the worst thing imaginable happened. Somboon Thao’s...

Getting a House Back to a Home

Episode #009

Latoshia Stewart tries to feel whole again after the murder of her daughter. In December 2010, 18 year old Markus Evans took 17 year old Jonoshia Alexander’s life on her...

Like Father, Like Son

Episode #008

Each time Rev. Fuller helps to restore a family, he feels that just maybe his own sons did not die in vain. Over a 9 year period Reverend Fuller lost all three of his sons...

Breaking Ground to Break the Cycle of Violence

Episode #007

Will a new center for domestic violence victims reduce the likelihood that a kid or teen will pick up a gun? This past October, Milwaukee broke ground on what will be the...

Virtually Mourning Darius Simmons

Episode #006

16-year-old Pierre Johnson has lost 3 close friends to gun violence in the past 2 years. Facebook helps him cope. In May of 2012, 13-year-old Darius Simmons was shot...

Pick-Up Game

Episode #005

Anthony Barksdale returns to Marcus DeBack for the first time in 20 years. The last time he was at the park, he witnessed the shooting of his best friend. Milwaukee was...

But I Couldn’t Fix Him…

Episode #004

As a pediatric nurse Lisa heals people all of the time, but twenty years ago she couldn’t heal the one she wanted to the most… her son. Nine year old Marcus DeBack was...

More Than a Teacher

Episode #003

An art teacher changes her lesson plan to personalized guns after many of her students mourn the death of 17 year old Precise Martin. Trace Matabele was teaching art in...

History Repeating Itself

Episode #002

The recent shooting of 5 year old Laylah Petersen snapped Betzy Torres back to the day she was shot 22 years ago in 1993. Betzy was five when she was shot in her home on...