Brenisha Butcher, a 33-year-old Black/African American woman, was killed in the early morning hours of March 16, 2025, after a night out in Milwaukee with her younger sister. Butcher was a mother of four whose family described her as loving, outgoing, and full of life. Relatives said she had recently started a daycare and was devoted to her children.
The sisters were preparing to leave the area of Bar 107 Sports Bar and Grill, near North 107th Street and West Granville Road on Milwaukee’s far northwest side, when their night ended in gunfire.
At approximately 1:40 a.m., Butcher was behind the wheel of a white Volkswagen with her younger sister, Brittany Butcher, inside the vehicle. According to the criminal complaint, a disturbance had occurred inside the bar earlier, prompting security personnel to clear people from the establishment. Witnesses later told investigators that neither Brenisha, her sister, nor the woman eventually accused of the shooting had been involved in that fight. As people were leaving, Brenisha's Volkswagen was positioned behind a gray Nissan SUV before pulling alongside the Nissan's driver's side. People in the two vehicles were reportedly speaking to one another when the confrontation suddenly turned violent.
Prosecutors allege that April Miller, who was sitting in the front passenger seat of the gray Nissan, produced a handgun and fired repeatedly toward the Volkswagen. One witness told investigators that Miller was the person who fired the shots and later identified her from a photographic lineup. According to the complaint, Miller allegedly indicated afterward that she had believed the people in Brenisha's vehicle were individuals who had been trying to confront Miller's group. Investigators, however, said witnesses reported that Brenisha and Miller had not been participants in the fight that had occurred inside the bar.
Brenisha was struck in the head by gunfire. Her sister was shot in the neck but survived. After the shooting, Brenisha's Volkswagen moved forward and crashed into a parked vehicle across the street as the Nissan drove away. When Milwaukee police officers arrived, they found Brenisha unresponsive in the driver's seat, and she was pronounced dead at the scene. Brittany was taken to a hospital with injuries that police described as nonfatal. Surveillance footage from the area captured portions of the vehicles' movements surrounding the shooting and became part of the investigation.
Brenisha's family struggled to understand why the sisters had been targeted. Relatives said the two were simply leaving the bar and heading home when the shots were fired. At the time of the initial investigation, police had not established publicly whether the sisters were deliberately targeted or whether the gunfire resulted from a mistaken belief about who was inside their vehicle. Brenisha's loved ones remembered her as a caring mother who enjoyed dancing, playing cards and spending time dressing up with her family. Her death left four children, her fiancé and a large extended family grieving while Brittany recovered from her wounds.
Investigators soon developed April Miller as the accused shooter. Detectives recovered a firearm they believed was used in the shooting, and court records reported that Miller was arrested two days after Brenisha's death while staying in a hotel room. Miller, then 49, was charged with first-degree reckless homicide in connection with Brenisha's death and first-degree reckless injury for the shooting of Brittany. During Miller's initial court appearance, a judge set her bond at $300,000. The charges carried potential penalties of as much as 60 years of imprisonment on the reckless-homicide count and 25 years on the reckless-injury count if she were convicted.
On March 28, 2025, Miller appeared for a preliminary hearing. A Milwaukee police detective testified, and the judge determined that probable cause existed to send the case forward for further proceedings. Miller then entered not-guilty pleas to the first-degree reckless homicide and first-degree reckless injury charges. At that stage, the allegations against her remained criminal accusations, and she had not been convicted of killing Brenisha Butcher.
The shooting also had an immediate effect on Bar 107. Its owner announced that the establishment would not reopen, and the bar subsequently surrendered its license. City officials noted that police had previously responded to incidents involving fights, batteries and shootings connected with the location. For Brenisha's family, however, the central loss remained a mother whose ordinary trip home with her sister ended in a burst of gunfire and a homicide prosecution that began only days after her death.
