In a tragic turn of events on a Monday afternoon in April 2016, 17-year-old Kemone Love, a Black male, was fatally shot in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The incident, which unfolded on April 11th, was one of a string of violent encounters that saw five teenagers shot in the city within a 24-hour period, with Love being the second to lose his life.
Kemone Love was a passenger in a van with several other individuals when the shooting occurred near the intersection of Green Bay Avenue and Capitol
Drive. The driver of the van recognized a man identified as 27-year-old Leon Sills and honked the horn to get his attention. In response, Sills allegedly exited his vehicle armed with an assault-style rifle and opened fire on the van. The driver of the van fled on foot as the vehicle continued to move, eventually crashing. Upon returning to the van, the driver discovered Love had been shot.
Instead of remaining at the scene, those in the van drove away and Love's body was later found on the roadway near 19th and Atkinson. An autopsy would later reveal that he had sustained multiple gunshot wounds, and his death was ruled a homicide. Grief-stricken family members described Love as being in the "wrong place at the wrong time" and noted he had recently been released from Lincoln Hills School for Boys in connection with a weapons charge. In the days that followed, community members and city officials pleaded for anyone with information to come forward. A vigil was held at the location where his body was found, despite threats of violence circulating on social media.
The investigation led Milwaukee police to a 27-year-old suspect. On May 2, 2016, Leon Sills was arrested during a traffic stop. Officers pulled over a small SUV with out-of-state license plates that did not belong to the vehicle. Sills was identified as the driver and taken into custody as the suspect in Love's murder. Police also found cocaine and several cellphones in the vehicle. Sills was subsequently charged with first-degree reckless homicide with the use of a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm by a felon.
