Suspect, 23, charged in Third Ward homicide
Officials charged 23-year-old Caesar A. Fuentes of Milwaukee with first-degree reckless homicide after police say he shot a man six times outside a Third Ward bar, according to documents released Sunday.
Witnesses told police that the fight that left 24-year-old Andra Nicholson Jr. dead started out with an argument over who had the better high school basketball team. Nicholson’s uncle told police that he called for a ride home in the early hours of Dec. 6, saying he’d been punched by a man while at Site bar in the Third Ward, 231 E. Buffalo St. #1a. Nicholson’s uncle told police Fuentes had used a racial slur against Nicholson, who had gone to Whitefish Bay High School.
Nicholson was kicked out of the bar after hitting Fuentes, but eventually Fuentes followed him into an alley where police say Nicholson was shot six times, according to the complaint.
Several witnesses saw Fuentes going after Nicholson with a gun, and bar security footage showed Fuentes in the bar with a gun just after 3 a.m. before he left, investigators wrote. One witness said they heard seven gunshots about 3:10 a.m. Fuentes turned himself in to police about 5:30 a.m. Dec. 6. Hales Corners Fire Chief Peter Jaskulski Tuesday confirmed that a paid firefighter/EMT is currently on unpaid administrative leave after becoming a suspect in the homicide. The chief was not available Sunday to respond to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel seeking to confirm Fuentes was the firefighter in question.
If convicted, Fuentes faces up to 65 years in prison.