Lavell Felton, a 29-year-old African-American male, was a professional basketball player with a promising career in Europe. In the summer of 2009, he was back in his hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during his league's off-season, just days away from returning to Germany. In the early morning hours of August 12, 2009, Felton was at a gas station in the 2100 block of N. 35th St. with his cousin.
He had just paid for his gas and was in the driver's seat of his car, preparing to leave, when an unknown gunman opened fire.
Felton was struck by the gunfire and seriously wounded. His cousin, who was a passenger in the car, was unharmed and ran to the gas station to call for help. Lavell Felton was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition. Tragically, he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced clinically dead the following day, on August 13, 2009. At the time of his death, he was a loving father to a five-year-old stepson, a four-year-old son, and a two-year-old daughter.
The initial police investigation struggled to identify a suspect or a clear motive for the shooting. His family believed the shooting may have been a senseless act of jealousy over his customized 1976 Buick Centurion convertible. Despite their pleas for information and offering a $5,000 reward, the case went cold. For years, no arrests were made, and the gunman remained at large. In 2019, a decade after the fatal shooting, the Milwaukee Police Department released new surveillance video in an effort to generate new leads and solve the cold case. However, to this day, the murder of Lavell Felton remains unsolved, and no suspects have been publicly identified or arrested in connection with his death.
