Milwaukee shooting of 1-year-old; Davon Chapman sentenced to life
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee County judge sentenced Davon Chapman on Friday, March 8 to life in prison in connection with the fatal shooting of a 1-year-old child outside Atkinson Library in Milwaukee in June 2023.
A jury found Chapman guilty on Feb. 1 of the two criminal counts against him – first-degree reckless homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Case details
According to the criminal complaint, Milwaukee police responded to a ShotSpotter alert that identified the sound of 11 gunshots near 19th and Atkinson on the evening of Saturday, June 3, 2023.
Another officer responded to a fire station not far from the shooting scene -- and learned a 1-year-old child, later identified as Zy'Aire Nevels, was shot and had been taken to Children's Wisconsin. Nevels later died.
Zy'Aire Nevels
Officers on the scene of the shooting located eight 9mm bullet casings in the street in front of Atkinson Library. This is close to the ShotSpotter alert.
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A detective spoke with the mother of Nevels. She said the 1-year-old was in a car seat just behind the driver, his father.
The woman's 3-year-old was in a car seat behind her. As they left their home, the complaint says "a white Impala began following and then chasing them." The mother said she could see the defendant driving -- and stated that Chapman was her best friend's husband, and that she had been talking to the defendant.
The complaint says Nevels' father described being chased by the Impala -- even through red lights. He was "watching the rearview mirror as they crossed West Capitol Drive and saw muzzle flashes and heard gunfire," the complaint says. Zy'Aire's father then drove to the nearby fire station. The child had been shot in the arm and head – and would not survive.
Authorities chased down Chapman. They arrested him on Interstate 94 in Kenosha County the next day. It all unfolded during a high-risk traffic stop.
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A detective spoke with the defendant's mother. She said she spoke with the defendant on the phone and "he was crying and told her 'I killed a kid. I got kids I wasn't trying to do that,'" the complaint says. Later that night, the defendant texted his mother a news article about the 1-year-old child and said, "Ma, I messed up," the complaint says.