Milwaukee shooting; 29-year-old accused of fatally shooting woman

MILWAUKEE - A 29-year-old Milwaukee man is accused of fatally shooting a woman on the city's north side on Aug. 6. The accused is Larry Jefferson – and he faces the following criminal counts:  

• First-degree reckless homicide
• Possession of a firearm by a felon

Shooting investigation

What we know:

According to the criminal complaint, Milwaukee police were dispatched on Wednesday evening, Aug. 6, to the area near 31st and Fairmount for a shooting call. When officers arrived, they located an SUV in front of the address in question that "appeared to have bullet strikes to the windshield," the complaint says. A woman, later identified by officials as Charmaine William, was in the front passenger seat and suffered multiple gunshot wounds. William did not survive her injuries.

A detective recovered a bullet fragment from the SUV's dashboard. The complaint says there was also "fresh damage from a recent crash on the rear of the vehicle." Also, investigators "did not recover any fired cartridge casings around the vehicle, which is consistent with the shooting happening at a different location," the complaint says.

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Investigators spoke with the 9-year-old son of the victim, who had been in the vehicle when the shooting happened. He told police "a motorcycle hit the back of their car. (The boy) stated that the motorcycle pulled around their vehicle on the driver's side and the rider of the motorcycle pulled a gun from between his legs and shot his mom through the windshield," the complaint says. The boy was able to provide a description of the motorcycle rider and the type of bike he was riding.

Police checked ShotSpotter records for the evening of Aug. 6. They identified a location on N. Sherman Boulevard just south of Hampton Avenue. Detectives went to the area and "recovered five fired brass CCI .45 caliber cartridge casings from the roadway," the complaint says. The casings were analyzed and "determined to be consistent with having been all fired by the same firearm," the complaint says. 

Surveillance video recovered

What we know:

Investigators also located surveillance video near the Sherman address that "captures the area just north of the shooting scene at the time of the shooting. During this video, a noise (one detective) believed was consistent with screeching tires can be heard. Then the video captures five gunshots. Just after the gunshots, the video captures a subject riding a motorcycle northbound on N. Sherman Blvd," the complaint says. The motorcycle is immediately followed by an SUV that matches the victim's SUV.

Milwaukee investigators used Flock cameras to see a man on a motorcycle and wearing a vest or jacket with a motorcycle club patch. Investigators checked the name of the club on social media. They located a photo that was posted on Aug. 4 which showed a younger individual who "had a black handgun with an extended magazine tucked in his front waistband. Importantly, in one of these photos, this same young person is seated on a black cruiser-style" motorcycle," the complaint says. Court filings say "this is consistent with both the suspect as described by (the boy) and the suspect motorcycle captured on the Flock camera system." 

When the photos of the younger man were submitted to a national automatic facial recognition database, the top result yielded a return of the defendant, Larry Jefferson.

Firearm recovered from defendant's residence

What we know:

The criminal complaint notes that Jefferson is a convicted felon. After getting a search warrant for the defendant's residence, they recovered a motorcycle club vest that was consistent with the one worn by the motorcycle rider captured by a Flock camera. They also "recovered a black American Tactical brand AR-15 rifle that appeared to belong to the defendant," the complaint says. 

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Detectives also recovered a "black Glock 30 .45 caliber handgun," the complaint says. The court paperwork says the firearm "was loaded with brass CCI .45 caliber cartridges, the same manufacturer as the fired casings recovered at the homicide scene." The fire was also analyzed and "determined to be consistent with being the firearm that fired all five .45 caliber cartridge casings at the homicide location," the complaint says.

Family of victim grieves

What they're saying:

"It just hurts," said Tanya DeBerry, William's sister. "I’m numb right now. She definitely didn’t deserve this."

"I knew she was gone already in my heart, I knew she was gone," said Charmaine DeBerry, William's mother. "Angel of mine, angel."

"It’s a relief that they did get him, but there’s still a pain there that won’t bring my sister back," Tanya said. 

 "She’ll always be in my heart," Charmaine said. 

A GoFundMe account has been created in William's memory. 

What's next:

Jefferson made his initial appearance in Milwaukee County court on Monday, Aug. 11. Cash bond was set at $300,000. 

A preliminary hearing was held on Tuesday, Aug. 19. After brief testimony from a detective, the court found probable cause to bind Jefferson over for trial. Jefferson then pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. 

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