Andrew Clyde Martin, a 31-year-old Black/African American man, was fatally shot on May 18, 2025, outside a home in the 5500 block of North Iroquois Avenue in Glendale, just north of Milwaukee. The shooting unfolded after a day of growing tension between Martin and John Sweeney, the owner of the house where Martin's girlfriend was renting a room. By the end of the night, Martin was lying mortally wounded in the driveway and Sweeney was in police custody.
According to the criminal complaint, Martin had arrived at the house shortly before 12:30 a.m. because he had been drinking and his girlfriend did not want him driving home. He spent the night in her room and parked his vehicle behind Sweeney's car. The following morning, Sweeney became angry that Martin's vehicle was blocking him in. An argument developed outside as Martin prepared to leave. Martin's girlfriend told investigators that Sweeney lifted his shirt to reveal a handgun at his waist and eventually drew the weapon. As Martin was leaving, Sweeney fired what he later described as a warning shot. Martin drove away without being injured. Disturbed by what had happened, the girlfriend later texted Sweeney that she intended to move out, telling him that displaying and firing the gun was unacceptable and could have resulted in someone being hurt.
Later that evening, the woman returned to the house to pack belongings because she planned to stay at a hotel. She told Sweeney that Martin wanted to speak with him and attempt to resolve their dispute. Martin arrived while she was carrying a bag outside, and he and Sweeney began talking near the garage. Their conversation quickly became heated. The woman told investigators she heard Martin raise his voice and then heard three gunshots. When she ran toward the garage, she saw the two struggling around motorcycles, with Martin on top of Sweeney. She went toward Martin's vehicle to retrieve a phone and call 911. While making the call, she heard another series of gunshots and afterward saw Sweeney holding the firearm and walking back into the house. Martin collapsed in the driveway near the garage.
Glendale police were dispatched at approximately 7:51 p.m. When an officer arrived, Martin's girlfriend directed police toward him and identified Sweeney as the shooter. Sweeney came out of the house with his hands raised and immediately acknowledged firing the shots, telling officers that Martin had entered his garage and begun punching him and that he believed he had no choice. Martin was found face down near the garage with multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators recovered a 9mm handgun from inside the residence and found seven spent shell casings in the garage and driveway. An autopsy performed by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office determined that Martin had been struck by seven gunshots.
During questioning, Sweeney maintained that he acted in self-defense. He told detectives that Martin had grabbed him and punched him in the head during the confrontation. Sweeney said he drew his gun and fired an initial series of shots, and that Martin then attempted to take the weapon from him, causing Sweeney to fire again until Martin stopped. Investigators noted that Sweeney did not tell them that he believed Martin had a weapon or that Martin had threatened him with one. A friend of Sweeney who had been on a FaceTime call with him shortly before and during the confrontation told investigators that he heard an argument, sounds of a struggle and gunfire before Sweeney returned to the phone and said that Martin was bleeding in his garage.
Sweeney was arrested at the scene and Milwaukee County prosecutors charged him with first-degree reckless homicide while using a dangerous weapon. Cash bail was set at $125,000. The prosecution's case emphasized not only the fatal confrontation but also the earlier incident that morning, when Sweeney had displayed and discharged the same firearm during his first argument with Martin. The shooting was described by authorities as an isolated incident and became Glendale's first shooting homicide since 2023.
The case ultimately went to a jury trial in October 2025. Sweeney again argued that he had fired because he feared for himself during the physical confrontation, but the jury rejected his claim that the killing was legally justified. Rather than convicting him on the original first-degree reckless homicide charge, jurors found him guilty of second-degree reckless homicide. At sentencing, the court emphasized that deadly force had not been necessary even if Sweeney had been losing the physical fight. Martin's family described the devastation caused by his killing, while the court heard that Martin had been more than halfway through his medical-degree program when his life was cut short.
On December 12, 2025, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge David Borowski sentenced Sweeney to 17 years of initial confinement in prison, followed by eight years of extended supervision. He received credit for 209 days already spent in custody. The sentence brought the criminal prosecution to a close months after a disagreement over a houseguest and parking escalated first into threats and a warning shot and, hours later, into the confrontation in which Andrew Martin was shot repeatedly and killed.
