On a tragic Monday morning, April 1, 2024, the life of Lakeyshia Timmons, a 42-year-old Black/African American mother of eight, was cut short in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Just after returning home from dropping her youngest children off at school, Timmons was fatally shot outside her residence near North 18th and Hadley. The sudden violence left her family and community in shock and mourning.
Milwaukee police responded to a ShotSpotter alert around 7:30 a.m.
and found Timmons with a gunshot wound. Despite life-saving efforts, she was pronounced dead at the scene. One of her sons woke up to the sound of gunfire and saw his mother on the ground, with a man with a distinct limp walking away. He later identified the man as Ronald Fuller, his mother's ex-boyfriend and the father of his younger siblings.
The investigation quickly focused on 52-year-old Ronald Fuller. Surveillance video captured him walking around Timmons' home before she returned. As she got out of her van, Fuller approached her. Timmons could be heard on the video questioning him before he opened fire. Investigators learned that the two were in the midst of a "messy" custody dispute over their three children. Fuller had reportedly found her new address through one of her other children.
Fuller was arrested and initially charged with first-degree reckless homicide. In a plea deal, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree reckless homicide. He told investigators that he "only wanted to wound her" and bizarrely claimed that the "devil" made him go to her house. In August 2025, Ronald Fuller was sentenced to 20 years in prison followed by 10 years of extended supervision for the death of Lakeyshia Timmons.
