In the early hours of a December morning in 2020, a dispute that began over the trivial matter of high school basketball teams escalated into a fatal encounter in Milwaukee's Third Ward. Andre Nicholson, a 24-year-old Black / African American man, was shot and killed on December 6, 2020, following an argument inside a bar.
The evening had started at a local establishment called Site 1A, where Nicholson and another man, 23-year-old Caesar Fuentes, engaged in a heated debate about which of
their former high schools had a better basketball team. The verbal sparring reportedly intensified, leading to Nicholson being asked to leave the bar. Fuentes is said to have followed him outside.
While on the phone with his uncle, attempting to arrange a ride home, Nicholson was tragically shot multiple times in an alley near Water and Buffalo streets. His uncle recounted hearing the gunshots over the phone, followed by Nicholson's distressing words, "I'm hit, he got me, come help me, uncle, he got me." Family members arrived at the scene before first responders and attempted to render aid, but the multiple gunshot wounds proved fatal, and Nicholson was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy would later reveal he had sustained six gunshot wounds.
Later that same day, Caesar Fuentes turned himself into the police. Fuentes, who was employed as a firefighter and EMT for the Hales Corners Fire Department, was subsequently charged with first-degree reckless homicide and use of a dangerous weapon. His family also turned over a handgun that was later determined to be consistent with the casings found at the scene of the shooting. While the initial argument was about basketball, there were some reports that racial slurs may have been used by Fuentes during the altercation. Fuentes was placed on unpaid administrative leave from his position at the fire department pending the outcome of the investigation.
