On a summer night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the life of 17-year-old Donavagn L. Swanagan, a Black/African American male, was cut short. On June 14, 2019, an encounter that was supposed to be a robbery took a fatal turn, leaving Swanagan dead from a gunshot wound in the front yard of a home near 56th and Greenfield.
The events of that night were a complex web of intentions, with plans of a robbery reportedly being made on both sides.
Swanagan, in concert with an associate, 18-year-old Antonio Sanfilippo, had allegedly planned to rob two other individuals. Unbeknownst to them, those same two individuals had their own plan to rob Swanagan of a gun. When Swanagan met with them in their Chevy Tahoe, he entered the back seat and handed his gun to the front passenger.
At that moment, Sanfilippo approached the vehicle, armed with his own gun. He punched the driver in the face and demanded their belongings. In the ensuing chaos, shots were fired, and Swanagan was fatally struck. The driver of the Tahoe, Lanz Harwell, later told investigators that he fired his. 380 caliber handgun into the air after being attacked by Sanfilippo.
Responding to reports of gunfire around 1:15 a.m., police discovered Swanagan's body. The investigation that followed led to the arrests of both Antonio Sanfilippo and 28-year-old Lanz Harwell. Sanfilippo was charged with felony murder. In October 2019, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years in prison and nine years of extended supervision. Harwell also faced charges related to the incident, with a jury trial scheduled for December 2019. The two firearms involved in the tragic incident were later recovered from the bottom of the Milwaukee River.
