Marcus Smith, a 64-year-old Black/African American man, was killed on the night of October 19, 2025, along North 27th Street near Atkinson Avenue on Milwaukee’s north side. Smith was in the area with Sandra Lee, and surveillance footage showed them around a neighborhood business during the hours leading up to the violence. Smith was seen outside the store shortly after 7 p.m. and again later that evening among other people gathered nearby.
Nothing in the available court documents establishes that Smith knew he was in danger or explains why he would become a target.
Shortly after 9:19 p.m., the surveillance recording captured the lower portion of a man later identified by prosecutors as Michael D. Williams standing near Smith. Smith's hat suddenly fell to the sidewalk, and Smith collapsed onto his left side. Investigators alleged that Williams had shot him. Moments later, Lee was seen running south as the gunman chased her with a firearm extended in his hand. Several muzzle flashes were visible before Lee fell on the sidewalk. The gunman then approached her, and his shadow appeared to show him repeatedly striking her before he returned toward Smith, pointing the firearm in Smith's direction while Smith remained on the ground. The assailant then fled west along Atkinson Avenue.
Milwaukee police officers reached the scene at approximately 9:23 p.m. Smith was bleeding from the head and had no pulse. An officer immediately began CPR, and Milwaukee Fire Department personnel continued efforts to save him when they arrived. Smith was pronounced dead at 9:46 p.m. An autopsy performed at the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office determined that he died from a gunshot wound to the head. Investigators recovered eight spent 9mm cartridge casings from the scene. Lee was also pronounced dead after lifesaving efforts failed.
Witness information quickly gave detectives a possible suspect. One witness who knew Smith and Lee told investigators that a man known as "Mike," who also frequented the area, had been present that day. After being shown a surveillance image of the suspected shooter, the witness identified him as Michael Williams. Another witness approached officers and told them the suspected gunman had gone into an apartment building at 2901 West Atkinson Avenue. She said Williams had arrived there carrying a gun and behaving erratically, and she also identified him from the surveillance image. Police went to the building and encountered Williams as he came through a rear door near the alley. Officers reported that he smelled strongly of bleach when he was arrested. According to the criminal complaint, Williams made the statement that he had "did the city a favor."
A subsequent search of the apartment building produced additional evidence prosecutors used to connect Williams to the killings. Police found an open container of bleach and a black shirt in a bathtub that appeared to have been soaked in bleach. A fingerprint recovered from the bleach bottle was identified as Williams's. The following day, investigators searching the basement found multicolored Puma shoes in a storage locker. The shoes appeared to have blood on them and were similar to the distinctive footwear visible on the surveillance footage. The resident associated with that storage locker told investigators the shoes were not his.
The investigation then widened beyond the deaths of Smith and Lee. About an hour later and less than half a mile away, Lakendrick Roby was found fatally shot inside a vehicle on North 31st Street. Surveillance footage from that area showed a person dressed in clothing consistent with what investigators said Williams had been wearing during the earlier killings. Five additional 9mm cartridge casings were recovered at the second scene. A preliminary ballistics examination concluded that the casings from the Smith-Lee scene and those recovered in connection with Roby's killing were consistent with having been fired from the same firearm, linking the two crime scenes.
Prosecutors ultimately charged Michael D. Williams with three counts of first-degree intentional homicide, one for each death. The criminal complaint did not identify a clear motive for Smith's killing. A relative of Williams told investigators that Williams had been experiencing mental-health and drug-abuse problems and had recently made threats against members of his own family, but authorities did not establish that those reported issues explained why Smith, Lee and Roby were targeted. Smith's family said they could not understand why anyone would kill him. His younger sister remembered him as someone who loved his family, while relatives described the enormous void his sudden death left behind.
Williams appeared in court following his arrest, where a $1 million cash bond was imposed. He later pleaded not guilty to the three first-degree intentional homicide charges and was bound over for trial. Each charge is a Class A felony carrying the possibility of life imprisonment upon conviction. In the latest publicly available reporting located for the case, Williams remained accused of the killings and the prosecution was proceeding toward trial; those reports did not document a trial verdict or conviction.
