Milwaukee ? The bloodshed began when a boy hit Charlie Young Jr. with an egg and he responded by punching a 14-year-old in the mouth and knocking out a tooth.

But in Milwaukee’s rough Midtown neighborhood, lined with rusting cars and homes with broken windows, rotting wood and peeling paint, something like that does not go unanswered.

According to police, a mob of boys as young as 10 set upon Young and bludgeoned the 36-year-old man to death with broomsticks, folding chairs, a milk crate and even a stroller on a porch where he had tried to take shelter. One boy then dumped his blood-soaked shoes down a sewer grate, and another ran home because his mother was calling.

The attack Sunday has stunned the city and led authorities, parents and residents to wonder what went wrong.

Sorrowful reaction

Dist. Atty. E. Michael McCann said the overwhelming reaction is sorrow. “Sorrow for everybody. For the deceased, for the boys, for the community,” he said. “These young men have written off their futures for decades.”

The questions go beyond the boys: In criminal complaints Thursday charging seven teenagers and a 10-year-old with reckless homicide, police say at least two adults watched the youngsters arm themselves and wait for Young in an alley. None of the witnesses called police. Two additional teens were charged Friday with reckless homicide, bringing the total to 10.

Erinn Payne, 22, who has lived in the neighborhood her whole life, said she saw the youngsters on the porch, attacking what she thought was an animal.

“Just to come home to trouble every night gets kind of tiresome,” she said. “People are always fighting or arguing, there’s always something going on.”

The poverty rate for the area is 55 percent, more than triple the rate for the rest of the city. A block from the crime scene, homes with green gardens and brightly colored shutters are being built symbols of urban renewal that have not spread to the neighborhood.

Don Dixon, right, and Kenny J. Mays are escorted into a Milwaukee County courtroom by a deputy in Milwaukee. Mays and Dixon, along with eight other boys, were charged as adults with first-degree reckless homicide in the beating death of Charlie Young Jr. The beating has led many to ask where the community went wrong.

“You can build as many projects as you want down here,” resident Andre Newson said. “It’s still not going to help the people in the neighborhood.”

Calls for change

An editorial Thursday in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called on city leaders to “do more than wring their hands. They must launch a campaign to reclaim from young thugs the neighborhood … where the beating death happened.”

Alderman Fred Gordon said the neighborhood hasn’t seen a crime of this magnitude before and must not again. “We are not going to be cowed by this horrendous act,” said Gordon, who represents Midtown. “We’re going to have to step forward.”

Mayor John Norquist said the children’s families obviously failed them. None of their parents appeared for the boys’ initial hearing, though most were in court for another appearance Thursday.

“Let’s get into the families in the neighborhood and make sure parents are doing what they need to do,” Norquist said.

Juvenile Court Commissioner Dennis Cimpl blasted one boy’s parents, saying they had “neglected, refused and are unable to provide adequate supervision and care for this young man.”

Parents wash hands

But the parents said they do the best they can. Many are single mothers and some work the night shift. The parents of the 10-year-old said he sneaked out of the house.

“They’re making a butcher out of a 10-year-old boy and a group of boys,” his father told the Journal Sentinel. “Kids are going to be kids.”

Police Chief Art Jones said police already enforce the law in the neighborhood and ticket children for curfew violations. But some residents say the police presence increases when a violent crime makes the news and fades afterward.

Common Council President Marvin Pratt said the council will look at the police budget for ways to put more officers on patrol in the neighborhood, and will try to give more grants to community organizations.

Brandy Dudley, 33, the half-sister of the 10-year-old and a 16-year-old expected to be charged, said the boys don’t have nice homes, video games or toys to play with.

“All they have is to hang on the streets,” she said. She wondered why adults didn’t step in, asking: “Why didn’t someone call 911 when they seen these kids coming through the alley with all these weapons?”