Milwaukee mother killed in Christmas Eve shooting, man sentenced
Omarion Danielson
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man has been sentenced to 32 years in prison for a Christmas Eve shooting that killed a mother on the city's south side in 2022.
Omarion Danielson, 18, pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless homicide in May. As part of a deal with prosecutors, two charges of first-degree recklessly endangering safety were dismissed. He was also sentenced to seven years of extended supervision.
The victim, 27-year-old Sildian Torres, was in the car with her 7-year-old son and the boy's father when shots were fired near 29th and Greenfield on Dec. 24. She was shot in the back and died at the scene. According to a criminal complaint, Danielson told investigators he fired at a vehicle after words were exchanged at a nearby store.
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Case details
The father of Torres' son told investigators he heard "rapid gunfire" as they turned onto Greenfield Avenue from 30th Street, but he didn't see who was shooting. Afterward, he said he asked Torres what was wrong, as she was spitting up blood. He said she was unable to put the car in park, so he did. He said he also couldn't get the door open, so he used his own gun to shoot out the window. He then got his son out of the car and ran to Torres, noticing the bullet hole in the door and the fact that Torres had been shot.
Sildian Torres
A witness said she was standing on a porch near 29th and Greenfield when she saw a gray Nissan Altima. She looked away before hearing the shots, and when she turned back to where she had seen the Nissan, she saw someone shooting from the passenger's side window, hanging from the car. She estimated 10 to 15 shots were fired.
Altercation at Scott's Beer and Food
Just before the shooting, police were investigating a shots fired report at Scott's Beer and Food – near 33rd and Scott. There, five bullet cartridges were found. Eleven other cartridges were found near 29th and Oak, which was near the homicide scene. An investigation revealed all were fired from the same gun.
Prosecutors said surveillance shows Danielson at the store at the time.
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During an interview, Danielson told investigators someone at the store said something to him, and when he confronted that person, a total of three people dropped their items and left the store.
Danielson said he then shot at their car, they fired back and he shot at them again. He said he and the driver of the Ford Taurus he was in at the store then went to Bay View to get pizza. He said he later learned of the homicide at 29th and Greenfield "on the news."
Danielson changes his story, prosecutors say
When he was told that Torres died and that the Milwaukee mother's young son was in the back seat, prosecutors say Danielson changed his story a bit. He said the people in the Nissan weren't shooting at him. He said he "figured there were a lot of people" in the Nissan, and he "knew they had a gun, and he wasn't going to let them shoot him." He said "he fired at their vehicle from his vehicle, shooting out the window 10 times." He said "he wasn't really aiming, it was dark and he couldn't see anything."
He added that "he didn't really mean to kill the lady," prosecutors say.
2nd man charged
More than a month after the shooting, prosecutors charged Raymond King with first-degree reckless homicide and two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety. He's accused of driving the veihcle the shots were fired from that killed Torres.
King, 18, had cash bond set at $75,000 on Jan. 30. He was bound over for trial in March.