Travis Merrell Harrell, a 46-year-old Black/African American man, was killed during a burst of gunfire outside a Milwaukee neighborhood bar in the early morning hours of March 22, 2025. Harrell was born April 28, 1978, and had attended North Division High School. He was remembered by detectives and relatives as someone inclined to keep the peace, and his family said he was the father of six adult children.
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The violence unfolded at Stewart's Rest Spot, located at 1422 W. Atkinson Avenue near North 14th Street. Milwaukee police said the shooting occurred at approximately 1:45 a.m. Investigators later determined that an argument involving people inside the bar escalated until the dispute moved outside into the parking lot. Police said the people involved in the confrontation were members of two groups who apparently knew one another.
Harrell was not described by investigators as one of the people who started the confrontation. Instead, detectives said he was attempting to intervene and stop the fighting. As the argument intensified outside, several individuals from the opposing groups pulled guns and began firing. Police eventually determined that three shooters were involved. Harrell became caught in the gunfire while trying to break up the disturbance.
Surveillance footage obtained by local news organizations captured a large crowd outside the establishment shortly before the shooting and showed the confrontation developing. Video appeared to show multiple shooters firing from positions near a tree and around a vehicle. A neighbor living across the street recalled hearing roughly 13 or 14 rapidly fired gunshots. The volume and speed of the gunfire suggested that more than one weapon was being discharged during the confrontation.
Harrell suffered fatal gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Another person, identified by police as 39 years old, was also struck by gunfire and was transported to a Milwaukee-area hospital with injuries that were not considered fatal. Later reporting indicated that the wounded person was not participating in the dispute and had apparently been walking toward a vehicle when caught in the crossfire.
In the immediate aftermath, Milwaukee police reported that the circumstances were still being investigated and said they were searching for unknown suspects. As detectives pieced together surveillance footage, witness accounts and information from people who had been inside and outside the bar, they concluded that there had been three shooters rather than a single gunman.
By May 30, 2025, police disclosed that one of the three suspected shooters had been apprehended. Investigators were still attempting to identify or locate two additional males believed to have fired weapons during the confrontation. Milwaukee Police Detective Jose Flores said numerous people had been present that night but that many had not yet come forward, making cooperation from witnesses particularly important to identifying everyone involved.
Public reporting located on the case did not identify the apprehended shooter by name or provide specific criminal charges against that person, and it did not report that the remaining two suspected shooters had been arrested. No publicly reported trial or conviction connected specifically to Harrell's killing was located. Police continued asking anyone who witnessed the confrontation, recognized the shooters, or possessed additional information to contact investigators or Milwaukee Crime Stoppers anonymously.
