Tarel Lashon Perkins Jr., known to family and friends as “T.J.,” was a 27-year-old Black/African American male whose life ended in a late-night shooting in Milwaukee on March 26, 2025. Perkins was born in Chicago on December 31, 1997, and was raised in Milwaukee, where he attended Bay View High School. Those who knew him remembered someone who enjoyed basketball and making music, had a strong ability in mathematics, and often used his sense of humor to make the people around him laugh.
He was also the father of a daughter, Tariah, and was remembered by his family as someone deeply loyal to the people he cared about.
The violence unfolded at approximately 10:29 p.m. on March 26 in the area of North Teutonia Avenue and West Carmen Avenue on Milwaukee’s north side, in or near the Thurston Woods neighborhood. Gunfire struck Perkins as well as an 18-year-old. When police and emergency personnel arrived, Perkins had suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. The younger shooting victim survived and was transported to a hospital for treatment. Authorities indicated that the surviving victim’s injuries were not expected to be fatal.
In the immediate aftermath, Milwaukee police released little information about what had led to the shooting. Investigators did not publicly describe an argument, robbery, confrontation, or other specific motive, and they did not announce whether Perkins and the surviving victim had been together when the gunfire began or whether either knew the person or people responsible. Police described the circumstances as still under investigation and said they were searching for unknown suspect or suspects. No one had been taken into custody in the initial investigation.
The shooting left detectives with a homicide investigation and a second wounded victim who potentially could provide information about what happened. Police appealed to anyone with knowledge of the incident to contact investigators, while also providing an anonymous tip option through Milwaukee Crime Stoppers or the P3 Tips system. The limited public information released at the time meant that important questions—including who opened fire, how many shooters may have been involved, what weapon or weapons were used, and what prompted the attack—remained unanswered.
Perkins’s death was followed by a funeral service on April 4, 2025, at Prasser-Kleczka Funeral Homes’ Bay View Chapel, with burial afterward at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church Cemetery in St. Francis. His obituary described the loss felt by a large family that included his parents, daughter, siblings, grandmother, other relatives and friends. Beyond the circumstances of his death, the family’s remembrance emphasized his humor, his interest in music and basketball, his skill with numbers, and the relationships he had built during his life in Milwaukee.
Publicly available reporting reviewed through September 2026 does not identify a suspect by name or report an arrest, criminal charge, trial, or conviction specifically connected with Perkins’s killing. The most specific law-enforcement information released publicly continued to describe the person or people responsible as unknown suspects. Unless investigators have developed information that has not been publicly released, the homicide therefore remains without a publicly identified perpetrator or announced prosecution.
