On the evening of March 17, 2022, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 24-year-old Stefan Owens, a Black / African American male, was fatally shot while sitting in the driver's seat of his car near the intersection of 96th Street and Brown Deer Road. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office later confirmed that he died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds.
The events leading to the shooting began earlier that evening.
Owens and the mother of his child had been in a relationship for several years but had broken up the previous September. According to the woman, Owens had been threatening and physically harming her, as well as damaging her property. On the night of the incident, she was in her car with her child when Owens pulled up alongside her and motioned for her to roll down her window. Feeling scared, she drove away, but Owens followed her. In her fear, she contacted her brother, Roger Powell.
Surveillance footage from a nearby church and school captured the moments before the fatal encounter. The video showed a dark-colored car pulling up next to Owens' vehicle, and the sound of yelling could be heard between the two cars. The footage then showed a man, later identified as Roger Powell, exit his vehicle, walk to the driver's side of Owens' car, raise his hand, and fire five shots through the window. After the shooting, Powell returned to his car and drove away. Shortly after, the mother of Owens' child discovered him slumped over and bleeding in his car and called 911, telling the dispatcher that her brother may have been the shooter, although she did not witness the act itself.
Following an investigation, a warrant was issued for Roger Powell's arrest on April 7, 2022. He remained at large for several weeks until he was apprehended by U.S. Marshals on May 26, 2022. Powell, who was 44 at the time of his arrest, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon. In March 2023, a jury convicted him on both charges. Subsequently, in June 2023, Roger Powell was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Stefan Owens.
