Kevin B. “Bubbs” Lewis, a 39-year-old Black man from Milwaukee, was fatally wounded in a burst of gunfire outside ELMNT Lounge in downtown Milwaukee during the early morning hours of July 12, 2025. Lewis was among five people struck when multiple shooters opened fire near the intersection of North Water and East Michigan streets, in the heart of the city’s downtown entertainment district. The shooting occurred shortly after midnight outside the lounge at 618 N.
Water Street, where a crowd had gathered along the sidewalk.
Lewis and 52-year-old Antwan “Tweezy” Hogans suffered the most serious injuries. Hogans died at the scene, while Lewis was rushed to a hospital and remained alive for several hours before dying from his injuries later that morning. Three other people, reported to be in their 30s, were wounded but survived. Lewis was remembered by relatives as “Bubbs,” and family members said he left behind two sons.
Investigators quickly determined that the shooting appeared to involve several gunmen rather than a single attacker. Surveillance footage obtained from ELMNT Lounge and city cameras reportedly showed a Jeep and a Dodge traveling along Water Street, making coordinated U-turns and returning to the area where more than a dozen people were standing outside the nightclub. According to prosecutors, the vehicles pulled alongside the crowd and gunfire erupted. Video evidence indicated that one person got out of the Jeep and began shooting while another person fired from inside the same vehicle. Investigators also observed what appeared to be gunfire coming from the Dodge as it fled.
Police recovered numerous. 40-caliber cartridge casings and at least one. 223-caliber casing from the area. A. 40-caliber handgun equipped with an aftermarket automatic-fire conversion device, commonly referred to as a switch, was found in the street outside the lounge. Investigators said the weapon was recovered at approximately the same location where surveillance footage showed one of the shooters standing. Nearby vehicles and businesses were also struck by bullets. According to the criminal complaint, investigators identified at least three shooters, and surveillance footage did not appear to show anyone in the crowd returning fire at the vehicles.
In the immediate aftermath, Milwaukee police took people into custody while continuing to identify everyone believed to have participated. A 24-year-old man was reported in custody within days of the shooting, but the investigation continued for months as detectives examined surveillance footage, firearms evidence, DNA evidence, vehicle movements and other records. By December 2025, police had reportedly arrested several people during the investigation, although prosecutors had not yet filed homicide charges at that point.
A major development came in April 2026 when prosecutors charged 24-year-old Milwaukee resident Justin Jamari Smith in connection with the attack. Smith was charged with two counts of first-degree reckless homicide and three counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, with the charges filed as party to a crime. The two homicide counts relate to the deaths of Lewis and Hogans, while the remaining charges concern the three surviving shooting victims.
According to the criminal complaint, prosecutors believe Smith was traveling in the Jeep involved in the shooting and was one of the people who opened fire. Surveillance footage allegedly showed the Jeep and Dodge approaching the crowd together before the shooting began. Prosecutors alleged that Smith exited the Jeep, fired toward the people outside the lounge and then returned to the vehicle. Investigators believe he was himself struck in the arm during the exchange, apparently by gunfire coming from another shooter associated with the same Jeep rather than from someone in the crowd.
Less than an hour after the Water Street shooting, Smith arrived at a Milwaukee hospital suffering from a gunshot wound to his arm. He allegedly told police that he had been walking near North 53rd Street and West Fairmount Avenue when he was wounded in an unrelated drive-by shooting. Detectives later questioned that account because officers had been in the area he described, no corresponding shooting had been reported and investigators found no evidence that gunfire had occurred there during the time Smith claimed he was injured.
Investigators also reported that the clothing Smith was wearing when he arrived at the hospital was consistent with clothing seen on the shooter who exited the Jeep. DNA testing provided another piece of evidence. Swabs collected from the trigger and trigger guard of the. 40-caliber handgun recovered outside ELMNT Lounge produced a mixture containing DNA from several individuals. According to court filings, a laboratory analyst found very strong support for the conclusion that Smith was among the contributors to that DNA mixture.
Vehicle-tracking information eventually became an important part of the prosecution’s case. Investigators obtained GPS information associated with the Jeep and combined it with city surveillance and traffic-camera footage. Prosecutors said the evidence placed the vehicle at the scene of the shooting and showed it fleeing afterward. Reporting based on the criminal complaint indicated that the Jeep reached extremely high speeds as it left downtown and subsequently traveled to a residence before Smith was taken to the hospital by another person.
Authorities have described the gunfire as a coordinated attack involving multiple participants, although publicly available reporting has not identified a confirmed motive for why the crowd outside ELMNT Lounge was targeted. One surviving victim told investigators he had simply been heading toward a bar when the shooting began, while another said he was waiting to enter ELMNT Lounge and was unaware of any dispute that would explain the violence.
Smith made an initial court appearance in April 2026, and a court commissioner set cash bail at $500,000. The charges against him are allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Although investigators have said at least three shooters were involved and other people were taken into custody during the investigation, the publicly available reporting located identifies Smith as the person formally charged in connection with Lewis’s death and does not establish that the other suspected shooters have been convicted. No publicly reported trial or conviction for Smith was located in the most recent reporting reviewed.
The shooting ended Lewis’s life while leaving investigators with a complicated crime scene involving multiple firearms, two vehicles and several suspected participants. What began as an overnight gathering in Milwaukee’s downtown nightlife district became a mass shooting that killed Lewis and Hogans and wounded three others, while the investigation continued for months before prosecutors brought the first publicly reported homicide charges.
