Milwaukee homicide cold case, man sentenced to 23 years in prison
Donald Moore
MILWAUKEE - Donald Moore was sentenced to 23 years in prison Thursday, May 5 for the 2012 Milwaukee homicide of Fawzi "Fred" Abu-Hamdan.
A jury found Moore guilty of first-degree reckless homicide on March 17.
The case went cold until Moore was arrested in 2021 thanks, in part, to viewer tips submitted to Milwaukee police after the case was featured on FOX6 News in 2020.
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A criminal complaint states two confidential witnesses linked Moore to the crime – the first in 2013, the second in November 2020. In February 2021, the complaint states, two additional witnesses identified Moore as the shooter.
One of the witnesses told police that Moore intended to rob the store near 32nd and Brown, but shot Abu-Hamdan by accident when the store owner went for a gun.
Fawzi "Fred" Abu-Hamdan
In addition to prison, Moore was sentenced to 15 years of extended supervision.
Surveillance footage investigation
Surveillance from outside the corner store showed two men casing the property. They passed by the front of the business, looked in, and had a brief conversation before one man entered. The shooter followed.
The complaint states the surveillance footage shows the gunman fire a shot into the convenience store's ceiling and then immediately turned the gun toward Abu-Hamdan. The gunman was in the store for less than five seconds.
Surveillance footage from inside the store
Surveillance footage shows two suspects outside prior to the fatal shooting of Fawzi "Fred" Abu-Hamdan.
Abu-Hamdan was struck once in the hand and once in the chest. Surveillance recorded Abu-Hamdan saying he was struck by gunfire.
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"This was a small-caliber weapon that passed through the victim’s hand before it struck him in the chest," said Det. Nathan Butz. "It just happened to be placed in a spot that the victim couldn’t recover from."
An employee called 911.
At the time of the shooting, the store was packed with customers, including a young kid. After the second shot was fired, the gunman then shoved the kid out of his way. His mother grabbed him and took him to the back of the store to safety.
About Fawzi 'Fred' Abu-Hamdan
Abu-Hamdan was from the country of Lebanon. He moved to the U.S. when he was about 18 to go to college. He met his wife, and the two got married, growing their family in Milwaukee in the 1980s. Everyone began calling him "Fred."
From early on, his son, Sam, remembered his father working long hours seven days per week, but with good reason.
Fred Abu-Hamdan
"He was always working really hard to support us," said Sam Abu-Hamdan. "He was all for working hard so he could retire with my mother."
In 2012, Abu-Hamdan decided it was time to retire. He had an interested buyer for his final store, but the transaction would never go through on his watch.
At Abu-Hamdan’s store at 32nd and Brown, customers knew they could count on him; some recalled him loaning them food until payday, or giving kids snacks that they couldn’t afford.