In the early morning hours of March 8, 2020, a night out at the Cheetah Club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, turned deadly for Derick Murry, a 31-year-old Black / African American male. The tragic sequence of events began around 1:47 a.m. with a seemingly minor incident that rapidly spiraled into a fatal confrontation. A man, later identified as the brother of Joseph C. Hallio, stumbled into Murry and kissed him on the face.
This led to a verbal dispute that quickly became physical, with Murry pushing and punching the man.
From a distance, Joseph C. Hallio had been watching the altercation unfold. He chose to intervene not by de-escalating the situation, but with lethal force. Hallio approached Derick Murry and shot him multiple times at point-blank range, causing his immediate death. The violence did not stop there. Another patron who attempted to break up the fight was also shot by Hallio and was subsequently hospitalized with serious injuries.
As Hallio attempted to flee the chaotic scene, he was confronted by the bar's security guard. An exchange of gunfire ensued between the two, resulting in both men sustaining gunshot wounds. In the aftermath, Hallio's sister, Stephanie Sykes, arrived and transported her injured brother to a hospital. However, she refused to cooperate with the police investigation into the events that had transpired at the club.
The entire incident was captured on surveillance footage, which provided crucial evidence for investigators. Based on the investigation, Joseph C. Hallio was taken into custody and faced multiple felony charges, including first-degree reckless homicide. He was held in the Milwaukee County jail on a $150,000 cash bail. His sister, Stephanie Sykes, was also charged with aiding a felon for her role in assisting him after the shooting. If convicted on all counts, Hallio faced the possibility of spending over 100 years in prison.
