Kenosha fatal shooting; Lawrence Franklin arrested in Texas, police say
Lawrence Franklin Jr.
KENOSHA, Wis. - Kenosha police announced on Friday, Nov. 22, the arrest of Lawrence Franklin, a man accused in the Sept. 6 killing of a pregnant woman.
Franklin was arrested in Plano, Texas by the United States Marshal Service’s Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force with the assistance of the Plano Police Department, a news release says. Franklin will attend an extradition hearing in Texas before being transported back to Kenosha.
Case details
Prosecutors say Franklin used a weapon purchased by Kaliyah Patterson to shoot and kill Amiah Prather.
Prather, 22, was shot on 65th Street near 13th Avenue. Police responded and found her in an SUV that was resting against a concrete pillar of a viaduct. She was 8 months pregnant, according to a criminal complaint, and both she and the unborn child died.
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Investigators believe Lawrence shot and killed Prather; the complaint states they'd been "seeing each other for several years." Kenosha police said, while his actions were not random, they want everyone to know that he should be considered armed and dangerous.
Prosecutors said video showed a man wearing a maroon hoodie, later identified as Franklin, running from Prather's SUV as it rolled into the pillar. The man returned to the SUV shortly after and appeared to be holding a gun in one hand and a bottle of alcohol in the other.
Near the scene, the complaint states officers found what appeared to be the same alcohol bottle Franklin was holding. A gun was found 37 feet away from the bottle.
Kaliyah Patterson
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Investigators traced the gun to Patterson, per the complaint. Records showed it was purchased earlier that same day in Paddock Lake. Surveillance video from that store showed Franklin with Patterson as she bought it. It also showed Franklin gave Patterson a credit card to make the purchase.
Once in custody, prosecutors said Patterson admitted Franklin asked her to buy the gun. She said she filled out the purchase form because she had never been convicted of a felony – but Franklin paid for it. She said she did not know Franklin was a convicted felon but did know he'd previously been arrested.
Kenosha shooting: Pregnant woman killed, gun bought hours earlier
Kenosha County prosecutors have charged a Racine woman with buying the gun used in the Sept. 6 killing of a pregnant woman.
Patterson is charged with one count of straw purchasing a firearm.