Milwaukee 16-year-old fatally shot during South Division basketball game
Nico Thomas
MILWAUKEE - Nico Thomas, 27, of Milwaukee, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, as party to a crime, after prosecutors say he fatally shot a 16-year-old in the parking lot during a basketball game at South Division High School near 13th and Lapham. According to prosecutors, Thomas told investigators someone else fired toward him first, but video evidence disputed that claim.
The shooting happened Dec. 3 around 9:30 p.m. The victim, identified by prosecutors as Chevaz Collins, was pronounced dead at the scene. Collins, 16, was a 10th-grader at Milwaukee Marshall High School.
Investigators found casings from three different weapons at the scene.
According to the criminal complaint, a friend of Collins said she and five others, including the victim, went to South Division for the basketball game and decided to leave at halftime. She said as they walked toward her vehicle, parked in the parking lot, Collins ran ahead of the group. She said she then heard gunshots and soon found Collins face down in the parking lot with gunshot wounds.
Prosecutors say someone at the scene provided a piece of paper with the license plate number and description of the vehicle containing the shooter(s) – a gray Nissan truck.
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Surveillance showed a silver Nissan Rogue parked in the lot. As Collins and his group left the game, the video showed the Rogue pulled out and followed the group. The vehicle passed the group and pulled into the lot, backing into a parking spot. The video then showed Collins jogged into the lot, slowing to a walk in front of the Rogue. He then suddenly took off running from the Rogue as another vehicle sped out of the lot. Prosecutors say this is consistent with gunshots being fired. Someone ran from the Rogue with his arm raised as if he was firing, the video showed. Collins then fell to the ground. The person with his arm raised then turned back to the Rogue, which took off from the scene.
Investigators spoke with Thomas' girlfriend who said he told her he was dropping some friends off at the basketball game in her Rogue and "his friend got shot, so his friend returned fire when he was in the driver's seat," the complaint says.
According to prosecutors, video showed Collins never fired a weapon. On the contrary, prosecutors say numerous weapons were fired at Collins, who suffered seven gunshot wounds, an autopsy showed.