Bre’nee Veasley was a 19-year-old Black woman whose life was cut short on the night of June 20, 2025, when gunfire erupted outside a teen party in Milwaukee. Veasley had recently completed her first year of nursing school at Lakeland University and was working as a certified nursing assistant at a local hospital. Relatives described her as a dedicated student who maintained a 4.0 GPA and wanted to become a nurse in part because of the experience her family had gone through when her
grandfather died. She had gone to a party at a rented event space in a strip mall near West Brown Deer Road and North 82nd Street, not far from the former Northridge Mall.
Shortly before 11 p.m., Veasley and people she was with were outside in the parking lot when a confrontation involving several armed people suddenly exploded into gunfire. Investigators later determined that an extraordinary 110 rounds had been fired from 11 different firearms in roughly 20 seconds. Detectives divided the recovered cartridge casings into three clusters around the parking lot, showing that gunfire had been coming from multiple locations. Some of the weapons appeared to have been firing fully automatically. Surveillance evidence indicated that shooters in one section of the parking lot fired first and others returned fire. The barrage struck storefronts and windows as well as people caught outside.
Veasley was caught in the gunfire and suffered a fatal wound. When police arrived, people in the parking lot were trying to help her. Although her injury initially appeared to officers to be in the abdominal area, the subsequent autopsy determined that she had been shot in the back. Kingston Liphford was also struck during the shooting and later died from his injuries, while three additional young people were wounded. Investigators found Liphford with a firearm, and forensic evidence showed that his weapon had been fired during the exchange. Authorities did not identify Veasley as participating in the gunfight; the evidence and witness accounts described her as someone who became trapped in the crossfire.
The investigation eventually focused heavily on Earl Williams III. Witnesses described seeing a masked person carrying a firearm shortly before the shooting, and statements obtained by detectives placed Williams with a Glock handgun equipped with a “switch,” a device capable of allowing automatic fire. Jardan Anderson, who investigators said drove the group to the party, told police that Williams was the only person in their group he knew to have a gun equipped with such a switch. Investigators later recovered a Glock with a switch during a July 7 police encounter involving Williams. Preliminary forensic testing linked that weapon to 13 cartridge casings recovered from the shooting scene, including 10 casings from the area where witnesses and other evidence indicated the first shots had been fired. Prosecutors alleged that Williams’ gunfire helped initiate the massive exchange, even though authorities did not believe he fired the particular bullet that killed Veasley.
Investigators also accused members of Williams’ group of trying to conceal what had happened. According to the criminal complaint, Anderson and Isiah Daniels drove away after the shooting began but returned to pick up Williams and others. Daniels told investigators that several firearms were gathered into a bag so they could be disposed of. Anderson said the vehicle used that night was later spray-painted blue in an effort to avoid detection. Williams reportedly told others that people he considered members of a rival gang had arrived with guns, although prosecutors did not identify any specific gang in the complaint.
Milwaukee County prosecutors ultimately charged Williams, Anderson and Daniels in connection with the aftermath of the shooting. Williams, who was prosecuted as an adult, was initially charged with felony murder, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a machine gun. Anderson and Daniels were charged with aiding a felon. Those arrests came more than two months after Veasley’s death and provided her family with some measure of progress after investigators initially had no identified suspects.
Williams’ case eventually resulted in a conviction. In May 2026, he pleaded guilty to felony murder involving battery as part of an agreement with prosecutors. The attempted first-degree intentional homicide and machine-gun charges were dismissed under the plea agreement. On July 23, 2026, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge David Borowski sentenced Williams to 12 years in prison followed by eight years of extended supervision. His conviction reflected prosecutors’ position that his actions in helping trigger the gun battle made him criminally responsible for Veasley’s death even though the available evidence did not establish that his gun fired the fatal round.
The prosecutions of the other defendants developed differently. The case against Daniels was eventually dismissed. As of the most recent published court reporting in late July 2026, Anderson continued to face the aiding-a-felon charge and was scheduled for another court appearance. The broader evidence showed that numerous firearms and shooters were involved, meaning Williams was not the only armed participant investigators believed had fired during the confrontation. Nevertheless, his guilty plea and prison sentence represented the most significant conviction arising from the gun battle that killed Veasley and Liphford and wounded three others.
