Milwaukee teen accused of fatally shooting a 12-year-old in the face

Prosecutors have charged a 15-year-old Milwaukee boy in the shooting death of a 12-year-old boy on Saturday.

A criminal complaint released on Friday shows that Deondre Davis has been charged with first-degree reckless homicide, use of a dangerous weapon in The murder of Marquell A. Newburn on October 26.

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

Davis told investigators he thought he had applied the safety before he started pointing the firearm at Newburn, and it went off and Newburn was struck in the face, according to the complaint.

Police were called to a home in the 2600 block of North 48th Street for a shooting on Saturday around 1:30 p.m. When they arrived, they were directed to a minivan in the backyard, where they found Newburn inside the vehicle, unresponsive and bleeding profusely.

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

“Say I won’t do it, say I won’t do it,” Davis says in the document moments before the gun was fired.

Under state law, children as young as 10 can be charged as adults for certain serious crimes, at least to start the case. These crimes include intentional first-degree murder, reckless first-degree murder, and attempted intentional first-degree murder.

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

Wisconsin does one of only three states that require all 17-year-old suspects to be charged as adults.

Newburn is believed to be the 16th youth killed in a homicide in Milwaukee this year.

Last year, 22 young people died in homicides and 27 the year before. There have been 112 homicides in Milwaukee this year, down 23% from last year and down 38% from 2022.