Anthony Daniels, a 29-year-old Black man, was killed in Milwaukee on September 7, 2017, after what began as a drive with a friend ended in a sudden burst of gunfire on the city’s north side. Shortly before 7:00 p.m., Daniels was driving with his friend when the friend asked him to stop along North 54th Street. Daniels pulled over in the area of North 54th Street and West Burleigh Street, with later case information identifying the incident location as 3028 N.
54th Street.
As Daniels’ friend began getting out of the vehicle, someone approached and opened fire. Both men were struck. Police responding to the shooting shortly after 7:15 p.m. found Daniels mortally wounded, and he died at the scene. His friend was shot three times but survived and was taken to a hospital with serious injuries. Authorities initially released few details about what led the gunman to approach the vehicle, and Milwaukee police said they were still trying to determine a motive while searching for whoever was responsible.
Daniels’ family learned what had happened gradually that evening. His mother, Tanja Dixon, had seen him less than two hours before the shooting. Daniels had told her he was tired and planned to go home and rest. Later, Dixon received a telephone call from relatives who had heard that Daniels’ friend had been shot but were unable to reach Daniels. She tried calling her son and received no answer. At first, she believed he might simply be asleep. While watching the evening news, she saw reports of the shooting on North 54th Street without realizing that the fatality being reported was her son. Detectives eventually arrived at the family home and confirmed his death.
The killing left behind a family that was preparing for Daniels’ future rather than his funeral. He was raising a son who had recently started school and was engaged to be married. His surviving friend attended Daniels’ funeral, apparently worried that the family might blame him because Daniels had stopped at his request. Dixon made clear that she did not hold the friend responsible, telling him in substance that he was not the person who pulled the trigger. Daniels was buried after a funeral held on September 18, 2017.
Investigators did not publicly identify the surviving friend as a suspect, and available reporting does not indicate that police accused him of participating in the shooting. Instead, authorities continued searching for the person who approached the vehicle and fired. Contemporary police reports said investigators were looking for suspects and had not established a motive. No publicly identified suspect emerged in the immediate aftermath of the homicide.
Nearly two years later, Daniels’ family was still waiting for an arrest. A 2019 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel examination of homicide cases reported that no one had been charged in his killing. Dixon continued to wonder whether the shooter knew her son and why someone had chosen to kill him. The absence of an arrest also meant there was no criminal prosecution through which the family could learn more about what investigators believed happened that evening.
Available cold-case information continues to list Daniels’ homicide as unsolved, with the suspect identified only as unknown. No reliable online source located for the case reports an arrest, criminal charge, trial, or conviction connected to his death. The Milwaukee Police Department has remained the investigating agency, and the central unanswered questions remain the same ones Daniels’ family faced after the shooting: who approached the vehicle, why Daniels and his friend were targeted, and who fired the shots that killed him and seriously wounded the man beside him.
