Brown Deer homicide, woman pleads no contest to lesser charge

BROWN DEER, Wis. - On Monday, Feb. 2, a woman pleaded no contest to shooting and killing a dentist in Brown Deer back in 2025.

41-year-old Akintunde Bowden died after being shot by Keionna McGowan at their apartment complex in April 2025.

Prosecutors say Bowden went to confront his upstairs neighbor McGowan over loud music when McGowan shot him.

McGowan told police she was afraid for her safety and thought Bowden was drunk.

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McGowan was charged with 2nd-degree reckless homicide and set to go to trial.

But after discussions between prosecutors and the defense, McGowan pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of negligent homicide.

What's next:

Her sentencing is set for May.

Original reporting | April 2025

The backstory:

A Brown Deer woman is accused of fatally shooting her neighbor during a dispute over loud music on Saturday, April 19, 2025.

Court records show 27-year-old Keionna McGowan is charged with one count of second-degree reckless homicide. Her bond was set at $15,000 on Thursday, and she's due back in court on May 5.

According to a criminal complaint, Brown Deer police responded to an apartment complex in the area of Park Plaza Court, just north of Brown Deer Road, for a shots-fired report.

When officers arrived at the scene, court filings said they saw a woman – since identified as McGowan – running from the apartment complex yelling "help" and "he’s in my house, number 207."

The complaint said police went into the apartment and saw a man lying face down in the entryway. The man had a gunshot wound to his lower abdomen and was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical examiner's office identified the victim as 41-year-old Akintunde Bowden.

While at the scene, an officer observed two women standing outside the apartment building. One of the women, later identified as McGowan, said she had just shot that man, per the complaint. The officer reported that McGowan was jumping around and crying; she appeared to be in a panicked state. 

McGowan told investigators that she was at home listening to music when she heard a loud aggressive banging at her door, according to court filings. She said that she went to the door and looked through the peephole, and she then opened the door and saw a "large man who appeared to be intoxicated." She claimed the man began to incoherently yell at her about the music, and she said that she told the man she would turn the music down before she closed the door and walked away.

According to the complaint, McGowan claimed that she then heard the man kicking at her door, as if he was going to break in. She then got her gun, went back to the door and opened it. She said that as the man made a motion to kick the door again, she fired one shot at the man.

Law enforcement interviewed a woman who identified herself as Bowden's fiancée, who said she and her mother had been at a concert that evening and had just returned home. According to court filings, she said that she had contact with Bowden at 10:30 p.m. through Facetime and could tell that he was at home watching a basketball game. 

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When asked if she or Bowden had interactions or problems with the woman in Apt. 207, the complaint states she said that the resident would occasionally play music too loudly. She said that to her knowledge, Bowden had never confronted the woman in the apartment about it.

Court filings said Bowden's fiancée told investigators that he was not one to lose his temper, and she did not understand how this could have happened. She also said that Bowden is a dentist, and he does not work weekends, so he did not need to be up early, per the complaint.