38th and Townsend homicide, Milwaukee man sentenced
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for a 2022 fatal shooting on the city's north side.
Travarus Pierce, 35, was found guilty at trial of first-degree reckless homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon. In addition to prison time, he was sentenced to 10 years of extended supervision.
Police were called to the shooting scene near 38th and Townsend the morning of May 18, 2022. When officers arrived, they found a 21-year-old man on the ground; he was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy found the victim was shot three times, with wounds to the chest and back. The death was ruled a homicide.
SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News
According to a criminal complaint, detectives learned the shooting may have been the result of an altercation that happened at a gas station a few blocks away near 35th and Townsend.
Police reviewed surveillance video from that gas station. Several minutes before police were called to the homicide scene, the complaint states the victim was seen running from the gas station as a man pointed a gun at him. The victim had allegedly tried to rob the man. Later, the victim was seen on video returning to the parking lot but was no longer allowed inside the store.
38th and Townsend homicide
Minutes later, the complaint states, an SUV was seen on surveillance pulling into the parking lot. The driver, since identified as Pierce, got out and walked into the gas station. When he left, there was an interaction between him and the victim where it appeared they were going to fight. Instead, though, the victim got on a bicycle and rode away, and Pierce drove off – both going west before moving out of view from the surveillance cameras.
The complaint states a witness told police that he was at the gas station and saw the victim run out of the store, a man pointing a gun at him. The witness said the victim returned and was arguing with the man when another man, later determined to be Pierce, arrived and got involved in the argument. The witness said it looked like the victim and Pierce were going to fight, but it never happened; the two left westbound.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX6 News app for iOS or Android.
The witness had a "bad feeling about the situation," the complaint states, so he drove west to see what happened. He said he saw the victim on his bicycle and told him to "go home" and that "no one should pull a gun on him." The witness kept driving, according to the complaint, and saw Pierce's SUV in his rearview mirror. The witness said the victim was hitting the SUV's window and giving the "middle fingers." The SUV did a U-turn and the witness said he heard three to four shots coming from the SUV before the victim fell to the ground.
The complaint states the witness identified Pierce as the driver of the SUV in question from a photo array and also identified the SUV from gas station surveillance as the one involved in the shooting.
Milwaukee Police Department (MPD)
Once in custody, the complaint states Pierce told police that employees at the gas station said the victim was "going to try and take his keys." When he walked out to return to his car, Pierce said he and the victim were telling each other to "swing" at each other. He said he paid for his gas, pumped his gas and left.
Pierce told police, per the complaint, that he did not know the victim before that day. He claimed the victim was still at the gas station when he left. Once confronted with the fact that both he and the victim left the gas station in the same direction, the complaint states Pierce denied involvement in the shooting.