Milwaukee fatal street shooting, 7th and Mitchell; man charged with homicide

MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man has been charged in an alleged drive-by homicide that occurred last month.

What we know:

The accused is 35-year-old Jose Arroyo Cervantes. He has been charged with the following:

• First-degree intentional homicide, use of a dangerous weapon
• First-degree recklessly endangering safety, use of a dangerous weapon

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The backstory:

On Tuesday, April 22, the Milwaukee Police Department was called to a shooting near 7th and Mitchell just before 4 p.m. Upon arrival, police located a white pick-up truck that had crashed into the side of a building. On the driver’s side of the vehicle, a man was slumped over in the driver’s seat with gunshot wounds.

The 52-year-old man’s cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds to the head, and his death was ruled a homicide.

According to a criminal complaint, a detective interviewed another victim involved and said he was a passenger in the white pick-up truck. He told police they stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross West Maple, prior to turning left onto South 7th.

At that time, the car behind them, a dark-colored van with a red license plate holder, attempted to cut them off.

As the man was turning left onto South 7th, the dark van also turned left and traveled northbound in the wrong lane of traffic, parallel with them, so that the van was next to the driver’s side of the white pick-up truck.

Per the complaint, when the van was right next to their truck, the driver pointed a gun at them and fired two gunshots in their direction. The victim told police that was when the now-deceased man crashed into the side of a building.

The victim told police he knew the man was injured, but could not tell whether it was because of the crash or gunshots.

While the victim ran to find help, he heard more gunshots.

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He observed a man running from the driver’s side of the truck to the dark van that had shot at them moments earlier.

Dig deeper:

According to the complaint, detectives collected surveillance footage from a nearby business, reviewed video and said it was consistent with what the victim told first responders. Detectives went to another local business and obtained surveillance video from a different perspective.

The black van was tracked down to a home in Watertown. The van was searched and Cervantes' birth certificate and social security number were found inside. Cell tower data also placed his phone at the crime scene.

What's next:

Cervantes’ cash bond was set at $500,000. He is due in court for a preliminary hearing on Thursday, May 8.

If convicted, Cervantes could face life in prison and up to $25,000 in fines.

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