Eric Williams, 28, male, was walking with his two children on Milwaukeeï s north side on the evening of August 12, 2018, when gunfire erupted near 10th Street and Burleigh. An argument in the area escalated, and a shooter opened fire into a group that included children. Loved ones later said Williams tried to shield his kids; he was mortally wounded, and both children were hitï his 4-year-old son suffering multiple gunshot wounds and his 14-year-old sustaining a non-life-threatening injury. Neighbors recalled the chaos and the desperate efforts to keep the youngsters conscious as first responders rushed in.
In the days that followed, detectives pursued the case as one of a rapid series of summer homicides, gathering witness accounts that described a dispute preceding the burst of shots. Community leaders pleaded for calm, while the block where Williams was killed became a makeshift memorial to a father often seen doting on his children. The portrait that emerged was of a young dad whose last actions were protective ones, taken in the seconds before he collapsed on the pavement.
Investigators ultimately focused on 20-year-old William Burks. A Milwaukee County jury found Burks guilty on multiple charges for his role in the killingï first-degree intentional homicide, two counts of first-degree reckless injury for the wounding of the children, and possession of a firearm by a felon. On July 19, 2019, a judge sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 46 years. Court records noted Burks had been released from jail roughly a month before the shooting.
