Travarus Pierce
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man has been found guilty at trial of first-degree reckless homicide for fatally shooting a man on the north side of Milwaukee in May.
Travarus Pierce, 35, was also charged with possession of a firearm by a felon. A jury found him guilty of both counts.
Police were called to the shooting scene near 38th and Townsend on the morning of May 18. When officers arrived, they found a 21-year-old man on the ground; he was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy found the victim was shot three times, with wounds to the chest and back. The death was ruled a homicide.
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According to a criminal complaint, detectives learned that the shooting may have been the result of an altercation that happened at a gas station a few blocks away near 35th and Townsend.
Police reviewed surveillance video from that gas station. Several minutes before police were called to the homicide scene; the complaint states the victim was seen running from the gas station as a man pointed a gun at him. The victim had allegedly tried to rob the man. Later, the victim was seen on video returning to the parking lot but was no longer allowed inside the store.
38th and Townsend homicide
Minutes later, the complaint states, an SUV was seen on surveillance pulling into the parking lot. The driver, since identified as Pierce, got out and walked into the gas station. There was an interaction between Pierce and the victim where it appeared they were going to fight. Instead, though, the victim got on a bicycle and rode away, and Pierce drove off – both going west before moving out of view from the surveillance cameras.
The complaint states a witness told police that he was at the gas station and saw the victim run out of the store, a man pointing a gun at him. The witness said the victim returned and was arguing with the man when another man, later determined to be Pierce, arrived and got involved in the argument. The witness said it looked like the victim and Pierce were going to fight, but it never happened; the two left westbound.
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The witness had a "bad feeling about the situation," the complaint states, so he drove west to see what happened. He said he saw the victim on his bicycle and told him to "go home" and that "no one should pull a gun on him." The witness kept driving, according to the complaint, and saw Pierce's SUV in his rearview mirror. The witness said the victim was hitting the SUV's window and giving the "middle fingers." The SUV did a U-turn, and the witness said he heard three to four shots coming from the SUV before the victim fell to the ground.