Antero Medina III, known to family and friends as “Casper,” was a 33-year-old Hispanic/Latino man from Kenosha whose life ended in a burst of gunfire inside a neighborhood tavern on the evening of Sunday, September 20, 2026. Shortly before 8:30 p.m., Kenosha police were sent to Shenanigan’s Bar & Grill in the 2400 block of 52nd Street, near 25th Avenue, after reports that shots had been fired. Officers entered the establishment and found Medina suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Emergency personnel attempted life-saving measures, but he died from his injuries.
Medina was widely known by the nickname “Casper.” Friends said he was a regular at Shenanigan’s who would sometimes stop in after work to relax, have a drink and play darts. Relatives described him as outgoing and charismatic, someone who enjoyed joking and making other people laugh. He was the father of three children, and family members said he had been born and raised in Kenosha. In the days after the killing, relatives and friends gathered outside the tavern, leaving a memorial that included small ghost figures in recognition of the nickname that had followed him for much of his life.
Police identified the suspected gunman as Adam Scott Threlkeld of Milwaukee. Investigators said that after Medina was shot, Threlkeld fled Shenanigan’s on foot while officers began searching the surrounding neighborhood. A short distance from the tavern, responding officers encountered him. Authorities said Threlkeld opened fire on police as officers approached, sending rounds into at least one squad car. Kenosha Police Chief Patrick Patton said the suspect fired at officers while they were still inside their patrol vehicles and continued shooting as they got out. Two officers returned fire, striking Threlkeld and bringing the confrontation to an end.
Threlkeld survived the police gunfire. He was taken into custody and transported to a hospital, where authorities initially listed him in stable condition. Neither of the officers involved suffered significant physical injuries. Police said witnesses were present both at Shenanigan’s and during the later confrontation with officers, and investigators were working to piece together the sequence of events that began with Medina’s killing and ended with the suspect wounded in the street. No other physical injuries were reported from either scene.
The investigation into Medina’s death is being handled by the Kenosha Police Department, while the police shooting of Threlkeld is being reviewed separately by the Kenosha Racine Area Investigative Team, with the Racine County Sheriff’s Office serving as the lead agency. The two Kenosha officers who fired their weapons were placed on administrative leave in accordance with department procedure while the officer-involved shooting was investigated.
Court and criminal-history reporting also showed that Threlkeld was already involved in a pending Milwaukee County criminal matter at the time of Medina’s death. He had been arrested in 2024 in a case involving allegations of battery or threats against a law-enforcement officer and criminal damage to property. In August 2025, he entered guilty pleas in that matter, but the court withheld entry of a judgment of conviction while allowing him to participate in Milwaukee County Drug Treatment Court under a deferred-prosecution arrangement. He had been prohibited from possessing dangerous weapons or firearms. Threlkeld was scheduled for a Milwaukee County court appearance the day after Medina was killed but could not attend because he was hospitalized following the exchange of gunfire with Kenosha police. A bench warrant was subsequently issued in that Milwaukee case.
By September 23, Threlkeld was being held on a $5 million cash bond in connection with the Kenosha investigation. The Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office said it intended to charge him with first-degree intentional homicide in Medina’s death, along with two counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide related to the alleged gunfire directed at the two Kenosha police officers. At the time of the most recent published update, those charges had not yet been formally filed, meaning there had been no trial or conviction in Medina’s killing.
Authorities had not publicly established a motive for the shooting or explained what, if anything, occurred between Medina and Threlkeld immediately before the gunfire inside Shenanigan’s. The available investigation instead established a sequence in which Medina was shot inside the tavern, the suspected shooter fled, and the encounter escalated again minutes later when police located him nearby. What began as an ordinary Sunday evening at a familiar Kenosha gathering place ended with Medina dead, the suspected gunman wounded and under arrest, and separate homicide and officer-involved shooting investigations moving forward.
