Marquez Banyard, a 27-year-old Black/African American man, was fatally shot during an early-morning attack on Milwaukee’s Lower East Side on June 23, 2026. The shooting unfolded shortly before 2 a.m. in the 1600 block of North Van Buren Street, near the Brady Street entertainment district. Banyard was inside a 2014 Nissan Rogue with two other people when gunfire erupted. Milwaukee police responding to the scene found Banyard in the driver’s seat suffering from a gunshot wound to the head.
Two additional victims who had been inside the vehicle were also wounded.
Emergency crews transported Banyard to a Milwaukee-area hospital, but his injuries proved fatal. According to the criminal complaint, he died at approximately 4 a.m. The two surviving victims suffered serious but nonfatal injuries. One had been shot in the right middle and index fingers and the right thigh, while another suffered a gunshot wound to the right side of the abdomen. All three people in the vehicle were the same age.
Investigators quickly began collecting surveillance footage from the neighborhood, including recordings from nearby buildings, Mango’s Café and a Milwaukee city surveillance camera. According to the criminal complaint, video showed two individuals approaching the Nissan shortly before the shooting. One of them was recorded firing what investigators believed appeared to be a fully automatic handgun into the vehicle. Both individuals then fled the area. Additional surveillance footage from inside Mango’s reportedly provided investigators with clearer images of the two people they were attempting to identify.
As detectives reconstructed what happened, their investigation focused on 26-year-old Milwaukee resident Tawon Dashawn Coleman. One of the two people who survived the shooting subsequently identified Coleman from a photographic lineup as the person who shot Banyard and the two other occupants of the vehicle. Coleman was arrested on June 30 and was later placed in custody as investigators continued building the case.
According to the criminal complaint, Coleman initially denied participating in the shooting when questioned by investigators. Authorities said he later changed his account and acknowledged having been at Mango’s on the night of the killing. Coleman allegedly told detectives that he and Banyard had been involved in an altercation at another bar approximately a week earlier. Prosecutors allege that when Coleman learned Banyard was at Mango’s on June 23, he went toward Banyard’s vehicle intending to confront him about their previous dispute.
Court documents allege that Coleman eventually admitted firing multiple shots at Banyard. He reportedly told investigators that after the shooting he handed the firearm to another person and left the area. Surveillance evidence described in the complaint was consistent with two individuals approaching the vehicle before one opened fire. Publicly available reports concerning the case have described that second individual but have not identified another person as having been charged in Banyard’s killing.
The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office charged Coleman with first-degree intentional homicide in connection with Banyard’s death and two counts of first-degree reckless injury for the shootings of the two surviving victims. Each charge included a firearm enhancer, which could increase the potential punishment if Coleman is convicted. He was ordered held on $750,000 bond. The allegations against Coleman remain criminal accusations unless established through a guilty plea or conviction in court.
Banyard’s death left behind a grieving family and three children. In July, as his family prepared to lay him to rest, his older brother, Mason Hull, remembered him as a man with a wide range of talents and interests, including athletics, music and art. Hull described his brother as energetic and entertaining and spoke about the difficulty of adjusting to the realization that he could no longer simply call him. Banyard’s funeral was held on July 17, nearly a month after the shooting.
His mother, Tiwanna Agee, also spoke publicly about the loss and the considerable support the family received following her son’s death. She said the number of people who came forward showed how many lives Banyard had touched over the years. Despite the circumstances surrounding his death, she expressed compassion for Coleman’s mother while acknowledging the permanent reality that she would never again be able to see her own son. Banyard’s relatives said they intended to attend the court proceedings as the prosecution moved forward.
By mid-July, Coleman remained in custody and a subsequent court hearing was scheduled for August 6. The publicly available reporting located through August 30, 2026, does not establish that the case has yet resulted in a trial, guilty plea or conviction. The prosecution therefore remains pending based on the most recent information available, with Coleman accused of intentionally killing Banyard and injuring the two other people who were with him during the June 23 attack.
