On a summer morning in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the life of 28-year-old Giovanni E. Hernandez, a Hispanic male, was tragically cut short. On June 24, 2022, Hernandez and another man, Melvin A. López, were found fatally shot in an alley on the 3700 block of West Roberts Street. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the deaths a double homicide.
Both men were pronounced dead at the scene from gunshot wounds to their heads.
The investigation into the double homicide quickly led police to a related crime. Shortly after the bodies were discovered, authorities were alerted to a vehicle fire a little over half a mile away, near 39th and North. The vehicle, a Toyota minivan that belonged to Hernandez, was fully engulfed in flames. Arson investigators determined the fire had been intentionally set from inside the vehicle. Surveillance footage from the area of the shooting showed Hernandez's minivan being followed by a white Acura into a dead-end street that led to the alley where the bodies were later found. The same two vehicles were seen on camera near the location of the arson shortly after the time of the shooting.
As detectives delved deeper, they analyzed cellphone data from the victims. Investigators found that in the hours leading up to his death, Hernandez had been in frequent contact, with 17 calls and texts, to a specific phone number. A Wisconsin Department of Corrections agent identified the number as belonging to 32-year-old Randy Moore. Cellphone location data placed Moore's phone at the scene of the homicide at the approximate time it occurred. The data then showed the phone moving towards the location of the vehicle fire before the records temporarily ceased. Moore was taken into custody in the days following the killings but was not immediately charged. Later, a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with the double homicide and arson.
The deaths of Hernandez and López were part of a string of violent crimes that shook Milwaukee's Hispanic community that week. Their murders were two of four homicides involving Latino victims in the city within a three-day span, causing concern and frustration among residents. While an arrest was made, the motive in this particular case has not been definitively stated as being related to the other incidents.
