Milwaukee officers shot, Tremaine Jones trial: Tuesday, March 31

MILWAUKEE - Testimony began Tuesday morning in the trial of Tremaine Jones, the man accused of killing Milwaukee Police Officer Kendall Corder and wounding Officer Christopher McCray last summer. 

Witness testimony

11:12 a.m.:

MPD Officer James Borneman testified. He said he was at a homicide scene, training another officer, and they were called to respond to the scene where Officers Corder and McCray had been shot.

911 calls, dispatch records

10:34 a.m.:

After the court returned from a break, the state called MPD Homicide Det. Shamara Gonzalez to the stand. She testified to the accuracy of 911 call recordings, dispatch records, audio recordings and more related to the police response to 25th and Garfield and the shooting that followed.

The state played multiple 911 calls for the court. The calls described a group of people in the area and noted a person in the group had a "big" or "large" gun. One person called back, and gunshots could be heard in the background.

Audio recordings from police, played in court, captured the aftermath of the shooting – "shots fired," "my partner's hit," and "officer down." 

On cross-examination, Defense Attorney Russell Jones questioned Gonzalez about the times the 911 calls were made and the time officers were dispatched.

ShotSpotter report

9:58 a.m.:

The state called Milwaukee Police Officer Roberto Hernandez as its first witness. Hernandez testified he has worked with ShotSpotter for years, a technology system that MPD uses to help find and respond to shooting locations.

Hernandez said the system issued three separate alerts for the night/area in which the officers were shot. The state played audio recordings that ShotSpotter captured, which included the sounds of multiple gunshots. 

On cross-examination, Hernandez testified that ShotSpotter can only identify the time and approximate location of a shooting – not the caliber of the weapon, circumstances of the shooting, or who the shooter was.

Defense's opening statement

9:51 a.m.:

Defense Attorney Abigail Ruckdashel delivers the defense's opening statement. She called Corder's death a "tragedy," and said everyone could and should acknowledge that. She also said it's the position of the defense that the state "does not have the right person."

"Nobody in this room believes that the people who are, I guess, paid to keep this city safe should lose their life doing their job, and by all accounts, Officer Corder was good at it," she said. "The one thing that makes this tragedy worse is if we don't have the right person."

Ruckdashel also said, "we're not here to insult your intelligence," but asked that the jury look and see what is "missing."

Prosecutor's opening statement

9:38 a.m.:

Assistant District Attorney Grant Huebner delivered the prosecution's opening statement. He described what happened leading up to the shooting and noted that Corder was filling in on the night he was killed. Huebner said Corder and McCray's body-worn cameras captured what happened, and that jurors would see that video.

Huebner said the state will walk the jury through every step of the investigation – including searches, fingerprint evidence, witness interviews.

"Officer Corder and Officer McCray were sent there because people called for help, and they're the police," Huebner said. "The defendant was there with a short-barreled rifle because he was there for a fight between girls, and he demanded people come outside or he was going to shoot, and Officer Corder died because of that."

Jury selected

9:18 a.m.:

The jury pool had been whittled down to 36 people by the end of Monday. That pool was cut to 14 jurors – nine men, five women – when court resumed on Tuesday. Two of those 14 are alternates.

Judge Michelle Havas then read preliminary jury instructions.

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The shooting

The backstory:

Milwaukee Police Officers Kendall Corder and Christopher McCray were shot near 25th and Garfield on the night of June 26, 2025. They were initially called for a report of a person with a weapon, which was upgraded to shots fired while they were on the way.

When they arrived and stepped out of their squad, they were unexpectedly shot in an alley. Assistant Police Chief Nicole Waldner noted the officers were unable to return fire. Milwaukee Police Association President Alexander Ayala described it as "an ambush."

Corder dropped to the ground, and McCray – who had been shot in the foot, leg and back – ran to grab Corder's firearm and protect him, according to a criminal complaint. Backup officers and a tactical team arrived shortly after the shooting.

The two officers were taken to Froedtert Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center. McCray was released from the hospital days later, while Corder died of his wounds on June 29. Court filings said Corder suffered three gunshot wounds, one of which severed his spine.

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Dig deeper:

Prosecutors said there were fights between groups of women over Jones and allegations of cheating. While at an apartment building before officers arrived, Jones fired shots into the air. The officers arrived a short time later.

McCray said he and Corder were walking down an alley when he saw a flash coming from some bushes and heard a bang that "sounded like a firework," according to the complaint. More flashes and bangs, which were gunshots, followed. 

Court filings said police recovered 16 total rifle cartridge casings at the scene "consistent with the shots being fired from the bushes" as McCray described. They later recovered a rifle along a fence line that the Milwaukee Police Department Fusion Center later determined was "consistent" with being the gun that fired all 16 rounds. Forensic investigators pulled a latent fingerprint, identified as Jones', from the weapon.

The complaint said police also found a social security card, birth certificate and several debit cards with Jones' name on them inside a backpack in a nearby backyard. There was a receipt from a West Allis gun shop that showed Jones bought a gun on June 17 and picked it up on June 19.

Jones was arrested the morning after the shooting at a home near 37th and Villard. A witness said Jones did not know he was shooting at the police and "thought it was someone else," according to court filings. The witness said Jones also said he had "better get out of there" because he had "just killed a cop."

Complete coverage

Dig deeper:

FOX6 News has followed the case from the time of the shooting to the trial. Read and watch more coverage below at the links below:

• Tremaine Jones trial: Jury selection begins for man accused of shooting Milwaukee police officers
• Milwaukee Police Officer Kendall Corder laid to rest, loved ones say goodbye
• Milwaukee police officers shot, Tremaine Jones charged
• Remembering Milwaukee police officers who died in the line of duty

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