A Milwaukee man has been charged over the fatal shooting of a man on Thanksgiving eve, in a killing police say was witnessed by the victim's young child.
Donta Roberts, 20, was charged with first-degree reckless homicide following the shooting in a parking area near N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Wright Street in Milwaukee on Wednesday, November 24.
Officers were dispatched to the parking area at around 5:30 p.m. where they found a 29-year-old man with a single gunshot wound. He was transported to a local hospital but later died as a result of his injuries.
According to the criminal complaint obtained by Fox 6, a search of the area where the shooting occurred uncovered "three spent 9mm cartridge casings and pieces of car parts."
It was noted that while the victim did not have a gun, he "did have an unloaded clip for a gun and some loose bullets."
The complaint states that nearby CCTV cameras picked up images of a red car parked in the lot around the time of the shooting.
In the footage "muzzle flashes are seen coming from the driver's side of the car, and the car then pulls away," with the victim left stricken on the pavement.
According to the complaint, the victim's young child witnessed the shooting and was later able to identify Roberts as the shooter from a photo lineup.
The complaint reportedly indicated the shooting was the result of an argument over an unpaid debt the victim owed to Roberts. After the exchange of words, the child told police they "heard gunshots and saw the car hit a parked car, then drive away."
Milwaukee police were able to locate the red car a day later, on November 25. They kept surveillance on the vehicle and later saw another car pull up near to the red one, before the occupant was seen entering the red car "using a key, doing something that activated the red car's alarm."
"During the surveillance, it appeared that the man who entered the red car was wiping down the car with a towel," the complaint noted.
Police later stopped the second car. Roberts was identified as the driver and taken in to be interviewed. During the interview he was shown the surveillance footage from the shooting.
Despite previously denying he had been in the red car at the time of the homicide, the complaint states that Roberts had earlier "identified himself in that clip as the driver of the red car."
Though he denied committing the homicide, Roberts was subsequently charged. He appeared in Milwaukee County Court on Tuesday, November 30 where cash bond was set at $200,000. Roberts will return to court for a preliminary hearing on December 9.
Newsweek has contacted the Milwaukee Police Department for comment.
The shooting came the same day a Michigan man allegedly fatally shot his mother while she drove them home following a Thanksgiving eve family dinner.
A deadly shooting also occurred in the parking lot of a Walmart in Texas on the eve of Thanksgiving.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jack Beresford is a Newsweek Senior Internet Culture & Trends Reporter, based in London, UK. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
