2021 Milwaukee hotel shooting, man pleads guilty to reckless homicide
Arrick Adams
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man pleaded guilty on Monday to a shooting that killed a hotel security guard, avoiding trial in a case that started more than three years ago.
In Court:
Court records show 39-year-old Arrick Adams pleaded guilty to lesser charges of first-degree reckless homicide and first-degree reckless injury. The state dropped a gun felony as part of a plea deal.
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Adams was originally charged with first-degree intentional homicide, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison, and attempted homicide.
What's next:
Adams is scheduled to be sentenced in July.
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Hotel shooting | Dec. 6, 2021
The backstory:
The shooting happened at the Days Inn & Suites near 6th and Reservoir. Milwaukee police responded to the scene and found the victim, hotel security guard Jose Stanton, shot in the lobby. Bullet casings were recovered at the scene.
According to a criminal complaint, an employee told detectives she heard an argument in the hotel's bar area. When a man left through the front door, the employee said she shut the door behind him. The man then swung the door back open, shoved her and threatened her. That's when Stanton intervened.
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The employee said they reported the incident to police, per the complaint, and she saw the man come back 10 minutes after the police left. The man told her and a coworker to get down, and she then heard gunshots. She said she ran into the parking lot, where she saw the man shoot at her.
Surveillance video captured the homicide. According to court filings, video showed the shooter – wearing blue gloves – pull up and get out of a vehicle. Multiple gunshots were heard less than a minute later, and the shooter got back into his vehicle and drove off.
Milwaukee Police Department (MPD)
Georgia arrest | Dec. 10, 2021
Milwaukee police contacted the Henry County, Georgia Sheriff's Department, where investigators believed Adams may have gone. There, court filings said a special investigations unit saw Adams driving a black Hyundai. When they tried to pull him over, he took off.
The chase ended when the Hyundai lost a tire and abruptly stopped, causing a pursuing squad to hit the Hyundai. The complaint states Adams was boxed in on I-75 and "forcefully" taken into custody.
A search of the car uncovered a gun and a pair of blue latex gloves, the complaint said. Preliminary ballistics tests found the gun found in Georgia and bullet casings found at the homicide scene were a match.
The Source: Information in this report is from the Milwaukee Police Department, Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office and Wisconsin Circuit Court.