Milwaukee 4-year-old girl fatally shot; Anthony Brookshire sentenced

Anthony Brookshire

A Milwaukee County judge sentenced Anthony Brookshire on Wednesday, Feb. 25, to 15 years in prison plus an additional seven years of extended supervision in connection with the shooting death of a 4-year-old girl in February 2025.

Brookshire pleaded guilty in December 2025 to two of four charges against him – including second-degree reckless homicide and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The other two charges were dismissed and read into the court record for the purposes of sentencing.

Case details

The backstory:

According to the criminal complaint, a 911 dispatcher took a call from a female caller around 9:45 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 17. When the dispatcher asked what the emergency was, co-defendant Derreanna Little did not respond, but she could be heard screaming, the complaint says. The call disconnected moments later.

On a second call to 911 from the same phone number, the complaint says defendant Little can be heard stating, "stay with me, stay with me" and "it's OK, you hear me, stay woke," and then yelling, "Anthony, go get my baby." Again, the 911 dispatcher indicated there was no direct communication with the caller.

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Shortly after 10 p.m., Milwaukee police were dispatched to the area of 39th and Sheridan to investigate the 911 call. 

When officers spoke with defendant Little, who indicated her 4-year-old niece had been shot. The child was later identified as Jainadia Little. 

Jainadia Little (Courtesy: Roshunda Parker)

The complaint says Little refused to disclose the location of the shooting. She claimed her 4-year-old and 1-year-old were in a back bedroom when she heard a gun go off. Little told police when she went to the back bedroom, the 1-year-old was holding a firearm.

Following the shooting, the complaint indicates Brookshire and Little took the wounded 4-year-old to the hospital, where the child later died. The 4-year-old was pronounced deceased just before 3 a.m. on Feb. 18.

Evidence secured

Dig deeper:

Milwaukee police detectives scoured the scene of the shooting and collected evidence. In a back bedroom of the residence near 39th and Sheridan, they spotted "a deflated air mattress with blood spatter near a hole in the upper center portion of the mattress. A single spent 7.62x39 casing was located on the mattress. There were also numerous pieces of mail addressed to "Anthony Brookshire" in the bedroom," the complaint says.

In the living room of the home, detectives located two extended magazines that were empty located inside a backpack. They was also an empty drum magazine inside the same backpack.

Inside a vehicle parked outside the residence, "there was a black 9mm Taurus semi-automatic handgun laying in plain view on the floor between the middle row seats. The 9mm Taurus was loaded with 17 cartridges recovered from the chamber and magazine. There was also a Draco-style 7.62x29 semi-automatic gun with wood stock and black receiver/barrel with a black extended magazine inserted with seven 7.62x39 cartridges recovered from the magazine."

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On Feb. 18, three fingerprints were lifted from the handgun that police recovered. The "source of all three latent prints recovered was defendant Brookshire," the complaint says.

Investigators conducted three separate interviews with Brookshire and two with Little. The complaint indicates that during those interviews, the accounts from the defendants about what happened changed multiple times.

What's next:

Derreanna Little is still going through the court process. Her next hearing is scheduled for March 27.

Derreanna Little

The Source: Information in this post was provided by Wisconsin Circuit Court Access, the criminal complaint associated with this case, and previous FOX6 News coverage. 

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