Cam’Ron LaShawn Barker, an 18-year-old Black/African American male from Mount Pleasant, was fatally shot during a large gathering at Lincoln Park in Kenosha during the early morning hours of June 13, 2026. Barker had reached an important milestone only days earlier, graduating from J.I. Case High School on June 7. He had previously attended West Ridge Elementary School and St. Catherine’s High School, where he participated in basketball and football.
His obituary described him as hardworking, outgoing and devoted to his family, with a love for sports, working out, dancing and spending time with friends and relatives.
At approximately 12:05 a.m., Kenosha police officers were dispatched to Lincoln Park after reports of a large gathering, excessive noise and a battery. Before officers could fully arrive and assess the disturbance, Kenosha County Joint Services began receiving multiple 911 calls reporting gunfire. Officers encountered a large crowd when they reached the park. A juvenile girl was found suffering from a leg injury, although investigators later said her injury was not believed to have been caused by gunfire. While officers were assisting her, they learned that another wounded person had already been taken from the park toward a hospital in a private vehicle.
Barker was located at Froedtert Pleasant Prairie Hospital, where medical personnel were treating him for multiple gunshot wounds. Despite efforts to save him, he died from those injuries and was pronounced deceased at the hospital. His death turned what had begun as a response to a noisy gathering and reported fight into a homicide investigation. Investigators spent the following weekend interviewing witnesses, examining available video, canvassing the surrounding neighborhood and following leads in an effort to determine who fired the shots and what caused the violence. A police dog from Racine was also observed searching the park grounds as investigators looked for physical evidence.
Information gathered during the initial response suggested the shooting involved more than one person. Early scanner-based reporting indicated investigators believed two suspects had fled the area in a Nissan sedan. One person being sought was reportedly dressed in a black ski mask, black Nike jacket, black pants and black shoes. Officers also located shell casings east of the park bathhouse, with scanner traffic indicating that at least two. 22-caliber casings had been recovered. Those early details came from emergency radio traffic and were not subsequently presented by police as a final account of exactly who fired the fatal shots.
As detectives continued investigating, authorities examined whether Barker's killing might have been connected to an earlier gun-related incident in Wisconsin Dells. Police confirmed in late June that they were looking into a possible connection between the Lincoln Park homicide and an incident that occurred during a post-graduation overnight outing involving teenagers from the Racine and Kenosha area. Public reporting did not establish that the two incidents were definitively connected, but the possibility became one of the investigative leads being examined.
A significant development came when Damarri Desean Hikes of Racine was brought into Kenosha County court in connection with conduct allegedly occurring during the Lincoln Park shooting. Prosecutors charged Hikes with felony bail jumping and possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under the legal age, alleging that he was carrying a Glock 19 during the June 13 incident. A court commissioner set a $5,000 cash bond and scheduled a preliminary hearing for July 9. The charges publicly reported against Hikes concerned possession of the firearm and bail jumping; the available reporting did not accuse him of firing the shots that killed Barker or charge him with Barker's homicide.
No publicly available report located through August 30, 2026 identifies anyone as having been charged with Barker's murder, nor was a homicide trial or conviction found. The investigation therefore remained unresolved in the available reporting, despite the related weapons case and the leads detectives pursued after the shooting. Authorities have continued seeking information from witnesses and others who may know what happened at Lincoln Park, particularly because the shooting occurred amid a large gathering where numerous people may have seen events leading up to the gunfire.
Barker's funeral was held June 29 in Racine, followed by interment at Graceland Cemetery. His death came less than a week after his high school graduation, cutting short what his family described as a life centered on family, sports, work and friendships. As the investigation continued, detectives were left trying to reconstruct how a crowded night at Lincoln Park escalated from complaints of noise and fighting into gunfire that ended Barker's life.
