Milwaukee teen charged in fatal shooting of 12-year-old in face

Prosecutors have charged a 15-year-old Milwaukee boy with killing a 12-year-old boy on Saturday.

A criminal complaint released Friday shows Deondre Davis has been charged with first-degree negligent homicide, use of a dangerous weapon in Murder of Markell A. Newbern on October 26.

Bail was set at $150,000 for Davis at his initial court appearance Friday. He must appear in court for a preliminary hearing on November 8.

According to the complaint, Davis told investigators he thought he had set the safety before he started pointing the firearm at Newbern and that it went off, striking Newbern in the face.

Police were dispatched to a home in the 2600 block of North 48th Street around 1:30 p.m. Saturday for a shooting. When they arrived, they were directed to a van in the back yard, where they found Newbern inside the vehicle, unresponsive and bleeding profusely.

Investigators spoke with two witnesses who said they were inside the car with Davis and Newbern and saw Davis point the gun at Newbern. According to the complaint, Newbern told Davis not to point the firearm at him, but Davis was defiant.

“Say I won’t, say I won’t,” Davis was quoted as saying in the document moments before the gun went off.

State law allows children under 10 to be charged, like adults, in certain serious crimes, at least to start a case. These crimes include first-degree murder, first-degree negligent homicide, and first-degree attempted murder.

Lesser charges, such as attempted first-degree negligent homicide or attempted second-degree intentional homicide, begin in juvenile court.

Wisconsin is one of the three states which require all 17-year-old criminal defendants to be tried as adults.

Newbern is believed to be the 16th boy to die in a homicide in Milwaukee this year.

Last year, 22 young people were killed in homicides, compared to 27 the year before. Milwaukee had 112 homicides this year, down 23% from last year and 38% from 2022.