Sherman Park shooting, Milwaukee man sentenced to 3 years in prison
Tyler Ward
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man accused of firing shots at a crowded Sherman Park in July 2023 has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Court records show 18-year-old Tyler Ward pleaded guilty on Jan. 16 to second-degree recklessly endangering safety and felony bail jumping. As part of a deal with prosecutors, a felony first-degree reckless injury charge and a misdemeanor weapon charge were dropped.
In addition to prison time, Ward was sentenced to three years of extended supervision. The court granted him credit for 174 days.
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According to a criminal complaint, Milwaukee County sheriff's deputies were dispatched to Sherman Park the night of July 25, 2023 for a fight and shots fired call. When the deputies got there, they found a person running toward them seeking help because they'd been shot. Deputies found 30 unspent casings in the grass to the west of the playground.
Deputies later interviewed the shooting victim, who said he was at the park with his brother to shoot dice. The complaint states the victim "noticed four Black males arrive at Sherman Park with ski masks on and two of them were armed with firearms." The victim said a group of females started to fight, at which point the two armed males started shooting. That is when the victim realized he was shot.
Teen shot near Sherman Park in Milwaukee
The complaint states the victim identified Ward, who was 17 years old at the time, as being at the park – but did not see him shooting. Deputies were contacted by an employee of St. Charles Youth Services who said Ward "stated that he was shooting at Sherman Park the night of the shooting," per the complaint.
Ward was arrested and interviewed. According to the complaint, he said there was a group of girls fighting and a group of Black males "preventing people from interfering and armed with guns." He also said the group of Black males "started shooting" at another group of kids at the park.
Per the complaint, Ward told investigators a friend tossed him a gun with an extended magazine – and he started shooting at the group with masks, even though that group was shooting at different people. Prosecutors said Ward admitted he fired the gun three times "because he was scared." He also said there were about 300 people in the park at the time, but he didn't think he hit anyone.