Thanksgiving homicide: Milwaukee man pleads not guilty in teen's killing
Elijah Dent
MILWAUKEE - Elijah Dent of Milwaukee pleaded not guilty on Monday, Dec. 18 to a single charge of first-degree intentional homicide for a Thanksgiving shooting in the city.
Prosecutors accuse Dent, 18, of killing 17-year-old Al'Jevon Wilkins near 24th and Wells.
A criminal complaint states a female called 911 shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 23 to report the shooting. During the call, court filings said she became "hysterical, cries, and hyperventilates" as a male voice is heard in the background saying "you don't have to tell nobody I did that."
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The first two officers to arrive found Wilkins on a futon with a gunshot wound to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and an autopsy determined he suffered two gunshot wounds to the head "fired at close range."
Detectives spoke to a resident of the apartment where Wilkins was found dead. The resident said the female who called 911 was his girlfriend's sister, and the female was asleep on his futon with someone else that morning. The resident said he left with another person to go to a corner store that morning, leaving the door unlocked, and returned to find the female crying in the doorway and the person she was with bleeding on the futon.
Police scene near 24th and Wells
The female who called 911 gave multiple statements to investigators. Per the complaint, she said she was asleep with Wilkins, who she "considered to be her boyfriend," on the futon when she awoke to find a "subject in black standing over them." She said that person, who she identified as her ex-boyfriend Dent, then shot Wilkins and pointed the gun at her with a "crazy look on his face."
The complaint states the female got up and called 911. While she was on the phone, she said Dent "cocked his gun back and put the gun to his own head," asking something to the effect of if she was going to "tell on him." He ran out of the apartment before police arrived.
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Dent was arrested the next day at an apartment near Teutonia and Custer; police found him hiding in a closet.
Dent is due back in court in February 2024.