On August 4, 2017, 26-year-old Jarome Johnson was shot multiple times at the Tastee Twist ice cream stand near North and Teutonia in Milwaukee and was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators ruled the death a homicide. Surveillance footage showed a vehicle pull into the stand’s parking lot; two men got out, one approached Johnson and opened fire before both fled. A witness provided a description of the vehicle that led police to a maroon car and to 32-year-old Otha Brown the same day.

According to Brown’s statements to police, he was driving with two other men when Tony Powell Jr. spotted Johnson and said he intended to kill him in retaliation for the earlier death of Powell’s friend known as Meechie. Brown said he and Powell left the car together and that Powell shot Johnson multiple times.