Alleged Milwaukee neighbor shooter Leslie Bost dead
MILWAUKEE - Leslie Bost, accused of shooting his neighbors near 22nd and Center in August, is dead, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office confirms. This information was first revealed by the son of Shirley Mallory. Shirley was killed in the shooting.
Gregory Mallory told FOX6 News prosecutors informed him of Bost's death Tuesday, Sept. 6. He said his family is relieved, and now, they don’t have to look over their shoulder at her funeral.
Greg Mallory said he heard the death occurred along Port Washington, and officers knocked on the door and heard a shot.
FOX6's cameras captured a police response near Port Washington and Melvina Tuesday. Milwaukee police said officers "were checking for a wanted subject" who was "inside a residence when officers knocked and announced. Shortly after, officers heard a firearm discharge from inside the residence. The individual was located deceased of a self-inflicted gunshot."
Police did not initially identify the person. But later, they confirmed it was Bost.
Port Washington and Melvina
Bost, 57, was charged with one count of first-degree reckless homicide, use of a dangerous weapon and four counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, use of a dangerous weapon. Online court records showed a warrant issued for his arrest as of Sept. 1.
The shooting and subsequent house fire sent Milwaukee police and firefighters to the area near 22nd and Center Aug. 24. They found four people had been shot. Shortly after the shooting, the home next door, associated with Bost, the suspected shooter, burned.
Carrie Barnhill, 88, was in town from Colorado Springs to visit her sister, Shirley Mallory, 82, who was shot and killed. Shirley's husband, Ivory Mallory, 85, was hurt, along with Barnhill and a friend, 65.
SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News
There was talking and laughter heard in surveillance video from a nearby home. As the night went on, the surveillance shows a porch light turned on and 12 gunshots rang out, fired at the house to the south of the camera.
Prosecutors say Bost's sister was found hiding in a closet in the Mallory home after the shooting. She was not hit by the gunfire. She told investigators her brother, Bost, lives in the upper unit of the duplex she lives in next door to where the shooting happened. She said their mother died, and she moved in to watch over the house because she wasn't confident her brother would take care of it.
On the night of the shooting, she said she got home around 8:15 p.m. and parked in front of her house. She said she saw Shirley Mallory outside on the porch next door with Carrie Barnhill, Mallory's sister. She said she went over to say hello, and as they sat on the porch, they were joined by a friend of Bost's sister.
Soon, Bost's sister says she saw Bost come out of the upper unit next door carrying a plastic grocery bag, and she thought he was just taking out the trash.
Ten minutes later, she said she heard several gunshots coming from her house. Looking over, she said she saw her brother shooting at them from her front porch. The sister said she tried running inside and passed Ivory Mallory, Shirley's husband, who came to the door to see what was going on. He was shot and fell to the ground, a criminal complaint says.
Bost's sister told investigators she didn't have "any idea" why her brother would have shot at the group. She did say that he "is a very private person who holds grudges for a long time."
She noted two past disputes, one involving Bost and Ivory Mallory regarding some grass in the backyard and another involving Bost's sister's friend, who had done some work in their house that Bost apparently didn't like, the complaint says.
Days after the shooting, from her hospital bed, Barnhill told FOX6 News she believes her military training saved her life and that when the shots rang out, she played dead.
Greg Mallory
Gregory Mallory, who lost his mother, Shirley in the shooting that injured his father, his aunt (Barnhill) and a friend, lives in Colorado and grew up in the home where the shooting happened.
"They kept to themselves. They were sitting on the porch and got killed," said Gregory Mallory. "I found out on a live news broadcast that my mom had died."
He said he had warned his father about the suspected shooter before.
"It just, really, we grew up right next to each other. I always told my dad, ‘He’s kind of weird. Leave him alone,'" said Gregory Mallory. "I wanted them to get out of the neighborhood. Basically, they're targets. Somebody run up on them and start shooting, they can't run nowhere."