On Christmas morning, December 25, 2024, 15-year-old Exziel Rivera was shot while sitting in a Kia near South 37th Street and West Scott Street in Milwaukee. The vehicle was fired on from a black Malibu at about 11:25 a.m.; neighbors reported hearing as many as 15 gunshots and then a crash after the victims’ car struck a parked vehicle and a tree. Rivera was pronounced dead at the scene. His passenger, 18-year-old Nayah Vasquez, was taken to a hospital and later died.

Witnesses described two males fleeing the scene. Investigators say the victims had been arranging to buy marijuana and were told to wait in their car. Police arrested two men shortly after the shooting: 18-year-old Quintarez Morris and 18-year-old Jeremiah Taylor. Morris was accused of driving the Malibu and later pleaded guilty to harboring or aiding a felon after admitting he burned the getaway car; he received a five-year prison sentence. Taylor was identified as the alleged shooter in a photo lineup and was captured in July 2025 after a police chase.

Does anyone have information about Exziel’s last known movements or who he might have been meeting that morning?