Timothy Cunningham, a 47-year-old Black man, was killed in Milwaukee on March 29, 2017, in a shooting on the city’s north side. The gunfire occurred near North 42nd Street and West Silver Spring Drive, an area where Milwaukee police responded that evening after receiving reports of a shooting. Cunningham’s death became another homicide under investigation during a period in which the city was experiencing significant levels of gun violence.
Police reported that the shooting occurred
at approximately 7:30 p.m. Cunningham suffered fatal gunshot injuries and died as a result of the attack. Contemporary reporting provided few details about what happened immediately before the gunfire, and investigators did not publicly describe a confrontation, robbery, argument, or other specific event that might have explained why he was targeted. Authorities said the circumstances surrounding the shooting remained under investigation.
There was some inconsistency in early reporting regarding Cunningham’s age. The headline of a contemporaneous Milwaukee news report described the victim as 47, while the text of the initial report referred to him as 42. Later homicide and cold-case information associated with the Milwaukee Police Department identifies Timothy Cunningham as 47, supporting the older age reported in the original headline.
At the time of the killing, Milwaukee police said they were seeking suspects. No suspect was publicly identified in the immediate aftermath, and available online reporting does not show that investigators announced an arrest or filed homicide charges connected with Cunningham’s death. Searches of later coverage also do not reveal a prosecution, trial, guilty plea, or conviction for his killing.
Cunningham’s case has continued to appear in online cold-case records associated with the Milwaukee Police Department, where his death is classified as a murder. The continued listing indicates that investigators have not publicly reported the case as cleared by an arrest or prosecution. Years after the shooting, publicly available information remains limited, leaving unanswered who shot Cunningham near 42nd Street and Silver Spring Drive, what led to the gunfire, and why he was killed that March night.
