Racine gang-related shooting, man reaches plea deal
Thomas Burton; Dashari Watson
RACINE, Wis. - A Racine man charged in a 2020 gang-related shooting that wounded five people reached a plea deal on Thursday.
Court records show 21-year-old Thomas Burton pleaded guilty to three felonies, and four other charges were dismissed. He was 17 years old when the charges were filed against him.
Burton is scheduled to be sentenced in October. Dashari Watson, Burton's co-defendant in the case, was sentenced in 2022 to 13 years in prison and 13 years of extended supervision.
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Shooting victims
Police found five people – ranging in age from 13 to 20 years old – wounded at North Beach on June 2, 2020. One victim suffered a life-threatening gunshot wound to the chest, and another had a non-life-threatening graze wound to the head. The three other victims' injuries were also non-life threatening.
Aside from the victims, dozens of other citizens were at the beach near the area where the shots were fired, according to a criminal complaint.
5 shot, wounded at North Beach Park in Racine
Gang dispute
The complaint states that a number of young people were in the parking lot near a playground before the shooting, all of whom were from a Racine gang – "Northside for Life," or NFL.
Around 7:20 p.m. on the night of the shooting, two members of a south side gang – "Dirty P" – came to the beach near where the members of the NFL were gathered and parked their truck.
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Prosecutors said the Dirty Ps walked to the north end of the parking lot as NFLs could be seen grabbing at their waistbands, as though armed. When the Dirty Ps walked back south across the parking lot to return to their vehicle, they were followed by NFLs.
Once back, the complaint said NFLs began damaging the truck – even so far as to jump up and down on the hood. The driver tried to pull away from the crowd, but struck a Jeep that was parked in front of it which then hit a Hyundai. When the truck moved forward, the shooting began.
5 shot, wounded at North Beach Park in Racine
Video, witnesses
In a video from the scene acquired by police, the complaint said Watson was identified as having his arm up and firing toward the area of the truck. Burton was also identified as running and shooting back behind himself in the area of the truck.
Both Watson and Burton are NFLs, according to police. Two other NFLs were also seen shooting near the truck.
According to a witness, neither Watson nor Burton were the first to fire shots. Dirty Ps were seen on video returning fire.