48th and Clarke fatal shooting: Milwaukee man accused, charged
Cortez Jones
MILWAUKEE - A 31-year-old Milwaukee man is now charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a 53-year-old woman near 48th and Clarke. The accused is Cortez Jones – and he faces the following criminal counts:
- First-degree reckless homicide
- Possession of a firearm by a felon
According to the criminal complaint, police were dispatched to a shooting report near 48th and Clarke in Milwaukee just before noon on Thursday, April 21. When they arrived on the scene, they found the victim, a 53-year-old woman, who has suffered a gunshot wound to her chest. She was pronounced deceased on the scene.
Detectives recovered 25 spent casings in two separate gangways near 48th and Clarke -- 16 in one location and another nine at a second location.
Homicide scene near 48th and Clarke
Investigators recovered surveillance video from a location near 47th and Clarke. In that video, the complaint says two men in a silver car are seen exiting the vehicle with a backpack in hand. The "driver appears to be holding an object with two hands and then the passenger hands him a smaller object," the complaint says. This smaller object is assumed to be a magazine that is seen "being inserted into a firearm." Both men eventually run out of sight. The complaint says "approximately 28 seconds later numerous high-caliber gun shots can be heard on the video in rapid succession. Approximately 7 seconds after shots cease, the driver and passenger both come running back down the gangway from the same direction. The passenger can still be observed carrying a black rifle" as both subjects get into their vehicle and flee the scene.
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Later that evening, officers responded to St. Joseph's Hospital regarding a walk-in shooting victim. This person initially identified himself as another person -- and later said he was Cortez Jones. A check for Jones "revealed him to have a warrant with Milwaukee Police Department for burglary," the complaint says. Jones was arrested.
While at booking, the complaint says Jones was "wearing gray jogging pants with emblems with a jumpman logo with a checkered background on the left pant leg and 23 with a yellow Michael Jordan signature through the numbers on the right leg and black tennis shoes." Those items match the description of the person seen in the surveillance video -- and the complaint says "Jones matches the physical description of the suspect."
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When questioned by detectives, Jones said he met a second person near 46th and Hadley -- and this second person told him to go to N. 47th Street, so he could retrieve a different backpack that had been stolen from him. Jones stated when he and the second person arrived, they got out of the vehicle, and the second person "took the backpack from him and went across the alley. The defendant claimed that he did not cross the alley," the complaint says. Jones then told detectives "he heard shots fired and then (the second person) came running back toward him with the rifle. The defendant then picked up the backpack and went back to his vehicle," the complaint says.
Jones made his initial appearance in Milwaukee County court on Tuesday, April 26. Cash bond was set at $75,000. Jones is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on May 5.