Dennis Lamar Johnson, 56, was fatally shot in Milwaukee on May 8, 2026, after becoming entangled in a dispute he was reportedly trying to defuse. Johnson, a longtime public safety officer with the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office assigned to the courthouse complex, had just left work and agreed to drive 53-year-old Darrin Sutton to pick up his two minor children. Surveillance footage and the criminal complaint portray Johnson stepping out of his black Jeep Grand Cherokee to calm an argument between Sutton and two women connected to the children.

Prosecutors say the dispute escalated: Sutton displayed a handgun and an exchange of gunfire occurred. As Johnson began to drive away with Sutton and the children inside, prosecutors allege 29-year-old Prinston Underwood fired at the departing Jeep and Sutton returned fire. Underwood is accused of pursuing the Jeep in a white GMC Yukon, pulling alongside and firing a single shot through the passenger window.

Authorities arrested Underwood and Sutton in the days after the shooting. Underwood was charged with first-degree intentional homicide and related counts; Sutton was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon. The killing devastated Johnson’s family and courthouse colleagues, who remembered him as calm and dependable. Did anyone see the Jeep or the Yukon in that neighborhood on the afternoon of May 8?