Fatal shooting, Milwaukee man accused of reckless homicide
Charles Smith
MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man is charged with first-degree reckless homicide in connection to a July 2 shooting on the city's north side.
Prosecutors accuse Charles Smith, 41, of killing a man after the two got into an altercation at a gas station. His cash bond was set at $2,500 on Tuesday.
The shooting happened around 5:30 a.m. near Fond du Lac and Burleigh. Police said the 39-year-old victim died at the scene, and two bullet casings were found a few feet from his body in the street.
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Detectives obtained surveillance video from multiple angles at the well-traveled intersection. Video showed the victim walking down Burleigh before the shooting. He appeared to be followed by a gray Dodge with damage to the tailgate, according to a criminal complaint. The camera also captured the Dodge's license plate.
Prosecutors said surveillance from a gas station showed a man, later identified as Smith, and the victim at a gas station roughly 15 minutes before the shooting. Smith arrived there in the same gray Dodge wearing the same clothing as the shooter.
Milwaukee shooting, Burleigh and Fond du Lac
Shooting scene
Video from the moments leading up to the shooting showed the Dodge ultimately circled the victim before it parked. The complaint states cameras also captured a clear image of the driver's face before he tightened the drawstrings of his hoodie – "presumably to conceal and augment his facial features."
The driver, identified as Smith, cut through a yard and reappeared on Burleigh. Prosecutors said Smith's face was again visible on surveillance as he walked toward the scene, pulled a chrome gun from his pocket and shot the victim. Smith then walked backed toward his parked Dodge and stopped at a sewer grate along the way "as if disposing of something therein." He then drove off.
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Police interview
Smith told police he was driving the Dodge during the morning of July 2 and had gotten into an "altercation" at the gas station, the complaint states.
According to Smith, he gave a man some money to pump gas for him. The complaint states, when he saw the man "acted as if he was pumping gas" but "the meter was not running," he realized he was being robbed. He said he punched the man in the face and took back the money, and the man punched him back and left the scene.
Smith also identified himself in the gas station video as the man wearing the clothing of the shooter, and the victim as the man who tried to rob him.