On the evening of March 30, 2014, 17-year-old Arelius D. Williams Jr., a Black male known to friends as Deejay, was found face down in the street near 37th and Lancaster in Milwaukee with a single gunshot wound to his upper right back. Attempts to save him failed and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators say three men—Deante Burns, Michael Burks, and Demetrius Taylor—had been driving around looking for someone to rob and targeted Williams and two other younger males. Burks pulled into an alley while Burns and another exited. Burns, armed with a semi-automatic handgun, announced the robbery; as the youths fled, Burns fired, fatally wounding Williams. A neighbor who heard the shot provided a license plate and surveillance footage was recovered. The plate led to Burks’s girlfriend and Burks was arrested; he admitted being the getaway driver and identified the others, saying the handgun had been tossed and later retrieved.

Deante Burns, 19 at the time, was tried and found guilty of first-degree reckless homicide with use of a dangerous weapon and attempted armed robbery with use of force; he received a combined sentence of 45 years plus 20 years extended supervision. Michael Burks was also charged with felony murder for his role in the incident.

Did anyone in the area know Williams or see the car or the men that night?