Walker's Point homicide, Milwaukee 16-year-old accused
16th and Bruce shooting, Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE - A 16-year-old Milwaukee boy is charged with first-degree reckless homicide for an Aug. 20 Walker's Point shooting.
Prosecutors said the victim was shot through the chest near 16th and Bruce around 9:40 p.m. that Sunday. The medical examiner's office identified him as 55-year-old Carlos Cruz.
Surveillance video
A criminal complaint states investigators watched surveillance video from the area, which showed Cruz walking in the middle of the street holding a Puerto Rican flag and approaching a silver SUV. A white Toyota Highlander pulled up with that silver SUV, and Cruz "swings his flag pole" at someone who got out of the Toyota.
Cruz and that person were "posturing to fight" when the 16-year-old got out of the Toyota's front passenger seat, the complaint states, and walked toward them "as if to watch the fight unfold in the street." The group reacted to something, and the 16-year-old ran back to the front passenger seat, stood up on the SUV's floorboard and shot at Cruz. The victim fell down, and the Toyota drove away.
Investigators searched the area for more video of the Toyota and the people inside. A camera near 16th and Bruce captured it driving with the passengers hanging out of the windows – including the shooter in the front passenger seat. The SUV had "unique damage" to the driver's side door and rear quarter panel.
16th and Bruce homicide surveillance, Milwaukee
Witness statements
Police released an image of the Toyota in an attempt to find the people involved. On Aug. 31, Muskego police said they got an anonymous tip that the Toyota had been spotted at a home there. A detective spoke to the registered owner, the complaint states, who identified the vehicle seen on surveillance as his and said his daughter had it on the night of the shooting.
Police spoke to the daughter, who admitted she was driving the SUV at the time of the homicide, according to the complaint. She said she was with a group of friends and decided to go to Puerto Rican Family Festival. They were meeting up with some other friends, who were in the silver SUV, when Cruz "got into a confrontation" with and "started hitting" one of the people she was with. She thought the fight started because that person told Cruz to get out of the road.
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The complaint states the girl told police she thought Cruz and the person she was with were "about to fight" when the 16-year-old got out of the Toyota, and she heard a gunshot. The 16-year-old got back in the Toyota and told her to drive away, which she did. It was not until they were already driving away, she said, that she learned the 16-year-old had a gun. Police said surveillance was "consistent" with her claim that she did not see what unfolded before she drove off.
The person who had the altercation with Cruz later turned himself in. The complaint states he told police they were driving around in the Toyota and almost hit Cruz, who was walking in the roadway. He said he got out of the Toyota and was "confronting the victim" when he heard a gunshot, got back in the Toyota and everyone drove off. As they drove, he said, the 16-year-old admitted to being the shooter but "did not provide a reason why." When they got out of the Toyota on the city's north side, he said the 16-year-old "traded the gun he used in the shooting for another gun."
The 16-year-old was arrested Sept. 1 and made his initial court appearance on Sept. 5. Court records show his cash bond was set at $100,000.