Develle “Big Dee” Gholson, a 56-year-old Black man, was killed on the evening of November 16, 2025, when gunfire erupted in Milwaukee’s Rufus King neighborhood. Gholson had gone to a cousin’s birthday gathering near North 19th Street and West Congress Street, where relatives said he was spending time playing cards, watching a football game and celebrating with family. His longtime partner, Lisa Higgins, said he had been gone from home for only about an hour and was supposed to return.
Instead, shortly after 7:30 p.m., Milwaukee police and firefighters were dispatched to reports of a shooting, and Gholson was found mortally wounded in the 1900 block of West Congress Street. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The violence also claimed the life of Tommie Triggs, who was found roughly a block away in the 4300 block of North 19th Place. Police ultimately determined that the two deaths were part of the same shooting incident. Doorbell-camera footage recorded from nearby captured more than a dozen gunshots. In the moments after the shooting, neighborhood resident Lary Rogers heard frantic banging on his door and window. Triggs had made it to Rogers’ porch seeking help after being shot. Rogers alerted arriving officers, who rushed over and attempted to assist him, but Triggs died there. Gholson had remained closer to the area around Congress Street, leaving investigators with two fatal scenes separated by only a short distance.
For Gholson’s family, the shooting abruptly took away someone they described as a central figure in their lives. He was the father of six children and had been with Higgins for approximately four decades. His daughters remembered him as tough, funny, protective and someone relatives depended on when problems needed to be fixed. Family members described him as the person who helped hold everyone together and said he was well known by people throughout the community. He also enjoyed fishing and had numerous grandchildren, including some who were still very young when he was killed. His family struggled with the fact that what had begun as an ordinary evening visiting relatives and watching a game ended with him never coming home.
In the immediate aftermath, investigators released little about what may have triggered the gunfire. Milwaukee police did not announce a motive, did not publicly identify a shooter, and said they were searching for the person or people responsible. Early reports variously referred to an unknown suspect or unknown suspects, reflecting that authorities had not established publicly how many people had opened fire or what role each person involved may have played. Police also did not disclose whether Gholson or Triggs had been specifically targeted, whether the shooting grew out of an argument or other dispute, or whether either victim was simply caught in the violence.
Gholson’s family publicly pleaded for anyone with knowledge of the killing to come forward, saying they wanted answers about who was responsible and why he had been killed. Milwaukee police likewise asked witnesses and others with information to contact investigators or provide information anonymously through Crime Stoppers. Reporting in the days immediately following the killings stated that nobody was in custody and that no arrests had been made. Searches of subsequent publicly available reporting through September 2026 did not locate a credible announcement identifying a suspect, an arrest connected to the deaths of Gholson and Triggs, criminal charges, a prosecution, trial or conviction. As a result, the double homicide remains publicly reported as an unresolved investigation, with the identity of the shooter or shooters and the motive behind the November 16 killings still undisclosed.
