De-Lisha L. Dunmore was 23 years old when she was shot and killed in Milwaukee on the evening of August 13, 2025. Dunmore, a Black/African American woman, was found inside a vehicle near North 42nd Street and West Hope Avenue after Milwaukee police were called to the area at about 7:30 p.m. What initially appeared to include a vehicle crash quickly became a homicide investigation when officers discovered that Dunmore had suffered a fatal gunshot wound.
Investigators found Dunmore in the
driver’s seat of an SUV that had crashed into a tree. Evidence recovered around the vehicle suggested that the shooting had occurred while she and another person were inside it. Police found an unfired 9mm cartridge on the front floorboard of the SUV. Outside, near the rear of the vehicle, investigators located another unfired 9mm cartridge along with a spent 9mm casing.
Surveillance footage became an important part of the investigation. According to the criminal complaint later filed in the case, video captured the moments immediately before the SUV struck the tree. The rear passenger door opened and a male could be seen either jumping or falling from the rear passenger seat onto the sidewalk. The location where he landed was close to where investigators recovered the spent casing and unfired cartridge. Detectives were able to use the footage to develop a description of the person who had been riding with Dunmore.
Police also began reconstructing Dunmore’s movements before the shooting. Investigators obtained information from her Life360 account, which showed that she had been at a bank and later at a gas station shortly before her death. Surveillance footage from the gas station showed a male pumping gas for Dunmore’s vehicle approximately 25 minutes before the homicide and then getting back into the vehicle with her.
As detectives spoke with Dunmore’s family, they learned that she had been dating a man named Davante. Her relatives reportedly did not know much about him personally, but that information gave investigators another lead. Authorities eventually identified the man as Davante Howard of Milwaukee. Fingerprint evidence collected from Dunmore’s SUV also became significant; investigators reported that two prints recovered from the vehicle matched Howard.
Police located and arrested Howard on September 5, 2025, at a residence on North 1st Street, a little more than three weeks after Dunmore’s killing. During a search connected to the arrest, investigators recovered a black full-face ski mask and a backpack. According to the criminal complaint, the backpack had a white Jordan logo and an orange clip, while the ski mask also displayed a white Jordan symbol. Investigators believed those characteristics were consistent with items visible on surveillance footage gathered during the investigation.
Prosecutors subsequently charged Howard with first-degree reckless homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon in connection with Dunmore’s death. The charges were accusations and did not themselves establish guilt. Howard appeared in Milwaukee County court on September 16, 2025, and a judge set his cash bond at $500,000. He was scheduled for a preliminary hearing later that month.
Dunmore’s death came after she had already endured a devastating tragedy. In September 2024, less than a year before the shooting, she and her sister Talise Dunmore were struck by an intoxicated hit-and-run driver while crossing a Milwaukee street. Talise was killed, while De-Lisha survived with serious injuries. Family members later described the sisters as extremely close. After recovering from that crash and mourning her sister, De-Lisha was working toward plans of her own, including a goal of starting a group home for senior citizens.
Her killing left the Dunmore family facing another devastating loss. Friends and relatives later gathered to remember both sisters, describing De-Lisha as caring and loving and speaking about the plans she had for her future. The investigation into her shooting ultimately moved from an initially unidentified gunman to the arrest and prosecution of Howard through surveillance footage, location information, witness and family interviews, and fingerprint evidence. Public reporting reviewed on the case documents Howard’s arrest and the homicide and firearm charges filed against him, but does not establish a subsequent trial verdict or conviction.
