Glendale fatal shooting, man charged with reckless homicide

Glendale fatal shooting, man charged

A Glendale man is accused of fatally shooting another man on Iroquois Avenue.

GLENDALE, Wis. - A Glendale man is accused of shooting and killing another man on Sunday, May 18. It was the city's first shooting homicide since 2023.

Milwaukee County prosecutors charged 34-year-old John Sweeney with first-degree reckless homicide. The victim, 31-year-old Andrew Martin, died at the scene.

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Shooting on Iroquois

The backstory:

It happened on Iroquois Avenue, near the intersection of Port Washington Road and Silver Spring Drive. When officers arrived at the shooting scene, a person waved them down and said: "He's dying."

Photo of John Sweeney's arrest

An officer then saw Sweeney exit a nearby house with his hands raised. When an officer asked Sweeney if he was the shooter, court filings said he replied: "Yes, he came into my garage and started punching me. I had no choice." He told police the weapon was inside the house, and he was then taken into custody.

At the scene, the complaint states a detective found seven bullet casings on the driveway and in the garage. A gun was found in the house. Martin's body was within feet of the garage door, which was open.

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What they're saying:

Police questioned the first person they met when arriving an the scene: a woman who was a tenant of Sweeney's. Prosecutors said she told investigators her boyfriend, Martin, had come to the house the night before because "he was intoxicated and she did not want him driving home." She said Sweeney did not like Martin.

The next morning, court filings said Sweeney stomped on the floor and was "mad" that Martin was there and had parked him in. Martin eventually came outside, and the two men argued. Sweeney pulled out a gun and fired it, and Martin drove away.

Fatal shooting on N. Iroquois Avenue, Glendale

Later in the day, the complaint states Martin came back. The woman said the two men began to argue. She heard Martin's voice "get higher" followed by three gunshots, and she ran to the garage where she found the men fighting. The woman then ran to call 911 and heard three more gunshots but didn't see what happened. She later found Martin and the ground and saw Sweeney go inside.

When police interviewed Sweeney, court filings said he told them he was arguing with Martin after he came back to the house. He said they were arguing about "rules for the house" when Martin "started coming closer" and he "sensed that Martin was going to do something." Sweeney said Martin was "punching him in the head" when he reached for his gun and pulled the trigger.