Xzavier A. Starks, a 34-year-old Black/African American man, was shot and killed during the early morning hours of May 18, 2025, on Milwaukee’s north side. At approximately 4:15 a.m., Milwaukee police were dispatched to the area near North 31st Street and West Burleigh Street after a citizen reported that a body had been found. Officers arrived and discovered Starks suffering from fatal gunshot wounds.
He was pronounced dead at the scene, and the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office later determined that he had died from multiple gunshot wounds.
The investigation quickly produced evidence suggesting that Starks may have been shot in or around his vehicle before his body and vehicle were separated. Investigators recovered two spent 9mm cartridge casings and a deformed fired bullet projectile from the area where his body was found. Within approximately half an hour, police located his vehicle parked only a few blocks away. According to the criminal complaint, a detective examining the vehicle noticed what appeared to be dried blood on the driver’s seat and center console, creating another important piece of evidence for detectives trying to reconstruct Starks’ final movements.
Detectives also began examining cellphone information connected to Starks. Investigators determined that his phone had last been active in an area near a residence associated with Anthony Washington, a Milwaukee man who would later become the principal suspect. Roughly 12 hours after the homicide, Starks’ cellphone began moving east along North Avenue in a pattern investigators believed was consistent with travel aboard a city bus. Surveillance footage from the bus showed a man carrying the phone who later got off near North 4th Street and North Avenue. Based on the man’s appearance in the footage, police identified Washington as a possible suspect.
Additional surveillance footage captured the same man becoming involved in what appeared to be a shootout with several young men in the area of 4th and North. During that confrontation, the man was seen running across the street while at one point moving backward so he could face the people pursuing him. A witness later found a cellphone on the ground in that area. Police determined that it was Starks’ phone, which investigators said had previously been in the vicinity where his body was discovered on the morning of the killing.
The investigation increasingly focused on Washington. On May 29, police executed a search warrant at his residence. Inside a room associated with him, investigators reported finding Starks’ identification, along with purple-and-black shoes with gold eyelets that appeared to have dried blood droplets on them. According to the criminal complaint, the shoes were consistent with footwear worn by a man investigators had seen entering Starks’ vehicle near 27th Street and Capitol Drive. Police also recovered a pair of jeans containing what appeared to be dried blood stains.
Police learned that Washington sometimes stayed at a relative’s home and went there looking for him. Officers found him outside filling a lawnmower with gasoline. According to the complaint, Washington ran when he noticed police. Officers pursued him and took him into custody after a brief foot chase. A relative told investigators that some of Washington’s property was inside the residence, leading police to obtain and execute another search warrant. Inside the living room, officers found a 9mm handgun sitting on top of a television.
That handgun became a significant piece of evidence. Firearms examiners test-fired the weapon and, according to prosecutors, determined that it was the same gun that had fired the 9mm cartridge casings recovered near Starks’ body. Detectives also questioned Washington about his relationship with Starks. Investigators said Washington initially denied knowing him, but later changed his account and acknowledged that he knew Starks. Washington nevertheless denied killing him. No clear motive for the shooting was disclosed in the public reporting located about the case.
Anthony Washington, then 40, was formally accused in connection with the killing and charged with first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon. He made his initial appearance in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on June 4, 2025, where a judge set cash bond at $100,000. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 10. The public news reporting located for this synopsis documents the prosecution through that early stage of the case but does not establish that Washington had been convicted or sentenced for Starks’ death. The evidence described by prosecutors—including Starks’ identification allegedly found in Washington’s room, the blood-stained clothing and footwear, cellphone and surveillance evidence, Washington’s flight from police, and the firearm examination—formed the basis of the homicide accusation against him.
