Milwaukee shooting: Sheriff’s office employee killed, charges filed

MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee man is accused of shooting and killing Dennis Johnson, a 56-year-old Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office employee, on the city's north side earlier this month.

Charges filed

In court:

Prosecutors charged 29-year-old Prinston Underwood with first-degree intentional homicide, attempted first-degree intentional homicide, two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety and possession of a firearm by an outstate felon. 

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Another man, 53-year-old Darrin Sutton, is charged with a gun possession felony in the case. A 25-year-old woman was also arrested in the case; the district attorney's office said charges against her are still under review.

Teutonia and Chambers shooting

The backstory:

Milwaukee police responded to a shooting near Teutonia and Chambers just after 5 p.m. on Friday, May 8. When officers arrived, a criminal complaint said they found Johnson shot in the driver's seat of his Jeep.

An autopsy determined a bullet went through Johnson’s right arm and into his chest, and the medical examiner's office ruled his manner of death as homicide.

Court filings said there were three other people in Johnson's Jeep at the time of the shooting, including Sutton and two children. Prosecutors said Johnson was not the intended target.

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What they're saying:

Sutton told police that Johnson drove him to the area of 12th and Locust to pick up his two kids, according to the complaint. While there, he got into a verbal argument with two women.

Prosecutors said Sutton claimed one of the women gestured to her boyfriend, later identified as Underwood, in a way that Sutton interpreted as a directive for Underwood to shoot at him. Sutton admitted to arming himself and displaying a gun, and noted that, at the time, he saw Underwood holding a gun of his own.

According to court filings, Sutton said Johnson then began to drive away from the scene. Sutton claimed that, as they drove away, Underwood opened fire on the Jeep – and he fired back four or five times.

Sutton said that a few moments later, per the complaint, Johnson alerted him to the passenger side of the Jeep as they were driving on Teutonia Avenue. 

The complaint said Sutton looked out the window and saw a white GMC before hearing a gunshot. He admitted that, once he realized Johnson had been shot, he discarded the gun he had next to a nearby building.

A witness told detectives that Underwood fired a single shot through the Jeep’s front passenger window as the Jeep slowed down for a red light at Teutonia and Chambers, per the complaint.

Surveillance footage

Dig deeper:

Detectives recovered surveillance footage from a home near 12th and Locust, which captured the shooting. Court filings said it showed the Jeep and the white GMC were both parked on the west side of the street.

The video showed Sutton arguing with two women from the front passenger seat of Johnson's seat, the complaint said. It also showed Johnson got out of the vehicle and walked around to try to de-escalate the argument.

Underwood was seen on the sidewalk with a gun in his hand, according to court filings. As Johnson began to drive away, Sutton then showed a gun from the window – at which time Underwood took aim at the Jeep while shielding himself behind the white GMC.

The complaint said Sutton and Underwood pointed their guns at each other but held fire until, seconds later after the Jeep drove away and out of view of the camera, Underwood fired toward the Jeep while attempting to take cover from return fire. Underwood then got into the white GMC and followed the Jeep.