Zaniya Booker, a 17-year-old Black/African American female, was fatally shot on January 22, 2025, inside a home on Milwaukee’s northwest side. The shooting occurred at approximately 4:45 p.m. near North 28th Street and West Atkinson Avenue. Milwaukee police initially reported that the victim was 15 years old, but the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office later identified her as Booker and corrected her age.
Her death, caused by a gunshot wound, was ruled a homicide.
Booker was found critically wounded in an upstairs bedroom and was pronounced dead at the scene. Her death left behind an infant daughter who was about six months old. Booker’s family said she was a junior at Shalom High School and had talked about becoming a beautician or possibly pursuing a career in law enforcement. Her parents said that she had been with the father of her child when the shooting occurred, but in the immediate aftermath investigators did not publicly identify a suspect or explain what had led to the gunfire.
As detectives began interviewing witnesses and people who knew Booker, the investigation increasingly focused on Jveon Clark, the father of her child. According to a criminal complaint, a witness who was downstairs in the residence heard a loud bang and then saw several people, including Clark, running out the back door. The witness went upstairs and discovered that Booker had been shot. During a search of the surrounding neighborhood, officers reportedly located a firearm inside a garbage can less than a block from the house.
Investigators also learned of several telephone conversations allegedly involving Clark after the shooting. One person told detectives that Clark called and said that he and Booker had been recording themselves and playing with a gun when it accidentally discharged. According to the complaint, Clark allegedly told the person that he had killed Booker and repeatedly described what happened as an accident. Another witness reported receiving a call from someone identifying himself as Booker’s child’s father, who similarly said that a gun had discharged and struck her.
A separate account contained additional details about what allegedly occurred inside the bedroom. According to court records, a person who spoke with someone believed to be Clark was told that Booker had been putting a round into the firearm when Clark took the gun from her and pulled the trigger, striking her. Prosecutors relied on these statements, the witness accounts from inside the house, and the firearm recovered nearby as the investigation developed.
Clark turned himself in to authorities on February 10, 2025. During his interview with detectives, he reportedly acknowledged that he and Booker had been alone in the bedroom when the gun discharged. Clark told investigators that he had been attempting to take the firearm apart and had racked the slide when it fired. He said his hand was on the trigger and maintained that the shooting was accidental, reportedly telling detectives that he would never intentionally hurt Booker.
Milwaukee County prosecutors subsequently charged Clark with second-degree reckless homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon. The firearm charge was connected to a prior felony fleeing conviction from July 2024. The homicide charge did not accuse Clark of intentionally planning to kill Booker; rather, prosecutors alleged that his handling of the firearm constituted criminally reckless conduct that resulted in her death.
Clark’s bond was set at $40,000. He entered a not-guilty plea, and on March 19, 2025, he was bound over for trial, meaning the criminal case was permitted to proceed on the charges filed against him. Available online reporting located for the case does not establish a subsequent trial verdict or conviction on the charges stemming from Booker’s death, so Clark should be regarded as accused rather than convicted of causing her death unless later court records establish otherwise.
Booker’s death devastated a family that suddenly had to grieve a teenager while also caring for the young daughter she left behind. What was initially reported simply as another unexplained Milwaukee shooting developed into a criminal case centered on allegations that a firearm was being handled inside a bedroom when it discharged, ending Booker’s life and leaving investigators and the courts to determine the degree of criminal responsibility for what happened.
