2 of 3 suspects charged in fatal shooting of Karen Simek plead not guilty



MILWAUKEE -- Two of the three suspects charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Karen Simek pleaded not guilty on Friday, January 12th to the charges against them. The suspects are 26-year-old Carl Knight and 20-year-old Samantha Gustafson. David McLaurin, a third suspect, was not in court on Friday.

Simek was shot and killed during a robbery in the neighborhood near 12th and National around 5:40 a.m. on January 31, 2017. She was walking to the job she had the past 11 years at Garden Fresh Foods.

Karen Simek



The three suspects in this case face the following criminal charges:


    Carl Knight



    Samantha Gustafson



    According to a criminal complaint, police recovered multiple digital video recordings from different exterior security cameras in the area of the homicide scene. A review of the videos shows a male subject "accosting the victim on the east side of 12th Street, on the sidewalk outside the door to her workplace." The two are standing face-to-face for a brief moment -- and "then the victim falls to the ground." The complaint indicates the video shows the male subject "sprinting southbound on 12th St."

    Knight and Gustafson are due back in court on January 26th.