In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the afternoon of October 24, 2016, the life of Michael J. Patton, a 44-year-old Black / African American male, was brought to a violent and tragic end. A well-known and liked figure in his community, Patton was the owner of Mike's Place, a bar located on the city's north side. He was a father to seven children and a grandfather to many more, and by all accounts, he was a good man who loved his family and provided a place for people to gather and enjoy themselves.
His family believed he was planning to retire soon, hoping to move away from the very violence that would ultimately claim his life.
On that Monday, police were dispatched to Mike's Place around 1:30 p.m. following reports of a shooting. Inside, they made a grim discovery. Michael Patton was found unconscious on the floor just inside the front entrance of his establishment. He had suffered from both blunt force trauma to his head and multiple gunshot wounds. Despite the arrival of emergency services, he was pronounced dead at the scene. The state of the bar suggested a struggle had occurred. Investigators recovered six. 22 caliber casings from the floor and noted a blood smear on a wooden fence in the courtyard behind the building, a silent testament to the violence that had unfolded.
The investigation quickly pointed toward a suspect, 38-year-old Michael Cooper. The blood found on the fence was a DNA match to Cooper. The same day Patton was killed, firefighters responded to a call at a different location where they found suspicious items being burned. Among the debris were an empty box of ammunition, a ski mask, gloves, and critically, paperwork containing Michael J. Patton's personal information. A witness connected these burning items to Cooper. The motive appeared to be a dispute over money; a witness later told police that Cooper had gone to the bar that day because he claimed Patton owed him money.
The case against Michael Cooper was solidified by his own subsequent actions. Approximately two weeks after Patton's murder, Cooper shot a man and a woman in the head in what prosecutors described as an attempt to silence a witness. Both victims miraculously survived. One of the survivors later confessed to detectives that he had witnessed the entire attack on Patton. He described seeing Cooper shoot the bar owner numerous times before also striking him over the head with liquor bottles. Following a trial, a jury found Michael Cooper guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a firearm by a felon. For the murder of Michael J. Patton, he was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of release to extended supervision only after serving 45 years.
