Sheboygan fatal shooting; no contest plea to amended charge
Armani Jackson
SHEBOYGAN, Wis. - Armani Jackson of Milwaukee appeared in court Tuesday, Oct. 25 for a plea hearing. He's accused in the fatal shooting of a Sheboygan boy on Oct. 29, 2021. During Tuesday's hearing, the state moved to amend count one to second-degree intentional homicide. The court allowed the amendment. Jackson then entered a no contest plea to the amended count.
Prosecutors charged 17-year-old Armani Jackson of first-degree intentional homicide in the Oct. 29, 2021 shooting. He was 16 years old at the time. Prosecutors said Jackson, shot the victim multiple times and fled the scene on foot.
The shooting happened near 8th and Center in downtown Sheboygan – near City Hall – around 2:45 p.m. that day. The victim, identified as 16-year-old Kilek Mack, was found conscious and breathing by responding police officers, a criminal complaint states. Mack was taken to Children's Wisconsin for treatment, where he ultimately died of his injuries.
Armani Jackson, Akeeyla Love, Sandra Love
At the scene, officials identified multiple gunshot wounds. An autopsy found Mack was shot three times. Officers found three bullet casings at the scene.
The complaint states that police reviewed video surveillance from Sheboygan city transit cameras. In the video, officers saw Mack sitting in a bus shelter when Jackson and a girl – since identified by authorities as 17-year-old Akeeyla Love – got off a bus and entered the shelter.
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The video showed Jackson and Mack walking around the shelter; Jackson repeatedly put his hand in his waistband. At one point, Jackson pulled his hand out, "directed a fist" toward Mack and a "physical altercation" ensued between the two of them, the complaint states.
The altercation moved into a nearby alley and the two went to the ground. Mack stood up and stepped back, the complaint states, when Jackson reached into his waistband, stepped toward Mack and fired a single shot from roughly five feet away. Jackson then moved away and fired two more shots from about 10 feet away. Mack fell to the ground, and Jackson fled across a parking lot.
According to the complaint, Mack "was not observed making any physical threats" to Jackson and there was "slight hesitation" before Jackson fired the second and third shots.
Police spoke to two witnesses who said they saw the altercation play out. Both witnesses said they saw Mack stepping away when the shooter, later identified as Jackson, fired multiple times. One witness was recording the altercation, and the video showed Jackson pull a black pistol from his waistband and point it at Mack; the video stopped just prior to the shooing, the complaint states.
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Law enforcement tried to find Jackson the day of the shooting but was unsuccessful. Authorities did locate Akeeyla Love that day; she was arrested and spoke to police. She said she and Jackson knew one another and that she saw Jackson and Mack fighting. She said she tried to break up the fight and heard, but did not see, the shooting. She told police she did not know Jackson was armed.
The complaint states Akeeyla Love picked up Jackson's sweatshirt at the scene and ran after him after the shooting, but later dropped the sweatshirt because "she did not want to get in trouble." She then went home and called her mother, Sandra Love, to explain what happened.
Sentencing for Jackson is set for Jan. 12, 2023.