Cory Fritz, a 33-year-old White man from the Appleton area, was fatally shot during a planned robbery on Milwaukee’s northwest side in early March 2025. Although some records initially associated his death with March 3, Milwaukee police, his family, and his obituary reported that Fritz died on March 4 at Froedtert Hospital after suffering a devastating gunshot wound to the head.
Fritz had traveled to Milwaukee and was visiting friends when the events that ultimately took his life unfolded near North 43rd Street and West Good Hope Road.
According to prosecutors and the criminal complaint, the encounter began as what Fritz believed was a drug transaction involving marijuana edibles. Gregory Hamilton allegedly arranged for Fritz to come to the area to sell the products, but prosecutors said Hamilton instead worked with his friend Travis Cooper to turn the meeting into an armed robbery. Surveillance footage later helped investigators reconstruct the events, showing Cooper moving through the neighborhood and apparently waiting for Fritz to arrive. Prosecutors described Cooper as the man who would carry out the robbery while Hamilton helped arrange the setup.
The situation became violent when Fritz resisted the robbery. According to information Cooper allegedly gave to a witness, Fritz fought back, and Cooper struck him in the head with the firearm. Cooper claimed the gun then discharged accidentally, shooting Fritz in the head. Fritz was critically wounded but remained alive after the shooting. Prosecutors said Hamilton subsequently told a neighbor that Fritz had injured himself by striking his head on a mailbox rather than revealing that he had been shot. The neighbor helped place the gravely injured Fritz inside his truck, which was then parked on the neighbor’s property.
Fritz did not immediately receive emergency medical treatment after the shooting. His parents later said they received a call from paramedics on March 3 telling them their son was being transported to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. When they reached Milwaukee, the family learned that Fritz had suffered what doctors described to them as a non-survivable gunshot wound to the head. He died at Froedtert Hospital the following day. His family later arranged for his organs to be donated, fulfilling a wish he had expressed during his life.
Investigators eventually connected Cooper and Hamilton to the killing through surveillance evidence, witness information, and communications between the two men. Prosecutors said telephone calls between Hamilton and Cooper were particularly important in exposing the robbery plan. A search of Cooper’s residence also resulted in investigators finding drugs and Fritz’s duffle bag. By late March 2025, Travis Cooper and Gregory Hamilton had both been arrested and charged in connection with Fritz’s death. Their initial bonds were set at $150,000 each. Prosecutors characterized the homicide as an armed robbery scheme in which Fritz was deliberately lured to the location under the pretense of completing a drug sale.
The criminal cases eventually resulted in convictions for both defendants. Travis Cooper pleaded guilty to felony murder on January 9, 2026, admitting criminal responsibility for the killing rather than proceeding to trial. Gregory Hamilton chose to take his case before a jury on a charge of felony murder involving armed robbery. His trial concluded on August 13, 2026, when a Milwaukee County jury found him guilty after approximately 25 minutes of deliberation on the fourth day of trial.
Both men were sentenced on August 20, 2026. Hamilton received 30 years in prison followed by 10 years of extended supervision and was credited with 515 days already served in custody. Cooper received a 13-year prison sentence followed by seven years of extended supervision, with credit for 516 days served. A restitution hearing in Hamilton’s case was scheduled for October 2, 2026. The convictions brought a measure of legal resolution to a case in which Fritz’s family had spent months asking why he had been left critically wounded and why no one immediately sought lifesaving assistance for him.
Fritz’s family remembered him as a loving son, brother and uncle whose personality was defined by his friendliness and enthusiasm for the people and things he cared about. He grew up near Appleton, played on two state-championship football teams at Kimberly High School, and was especially fond of Star Wars, LEGO and his dogs, Panda and Cooper. What began as an arranged meeting in Milwaukee ultimately became a robbery, a fatal shooting and a prolonged criminal prosecution, ending with both men accused of setting Fritz up being convicted and sent to prison.
