Teen barred from having guns after felony charged in 15-year-old’s shooting death
An 18-year-old who was barred from possessing guns has been charged with homicide in the death of 15-year-old Keyshon Harris, who was shot at a bus stop in 2023.
The criminal complaint detailed what appeared to be a targeted shooting of Keyshon. In the days after his death in August last year, his family said Keyshon recently started a new job and was expecting his first paycheck. He enjoyed dancing and rapping.
“Keyshon wanted to change his life. He got a job and everything, but unfortunately he never even got to see that first paycheck,” his cousin, Natasha Nobles, told the Journal Sentinel last year.
Daquan O. Henderson of Milwaukee is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the shooting. As a juvenile in 2022, he was convicted of felony robbery with threat of force, which barred him from possessing guns.
For years, police and public health officials in Milwaukee have railed against how easily accessible firearms are, even for young people or those who are legally barred from possessing them. But lawmakers at the federal level and the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature have taken little to no action to restrict their access.
Ever since 2020, when gun sales skyrocketed and the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted daily life, children in Milwaukee have died by homicide and have been injured in shootings at about twice the rate of pre-pandemic years, according to data from the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Henderson was arrested within a month of Keyshon’s death, but on charges relating to another incident — a car chase involving a stolen vehicle in West Allis. For that case, he pleaded guilty to three felonies Thursday and has a sentencing hearing scheduled in April.
Henderson hasn’t yet been permanently assigned an attorney in the homicide case, according to online court records. His cash bail was set at $150,000 after charges were filed Monday.
According to the criminal complaint:
Keyshon was shot at the corner of North 53rd and West Center streets on Aug. 10, 2023.
Surveillance videos show a stolen Hyundai Elantra circling the area where Keyshon was standing shortly beforehand. A masked passenger from the car eventually exited, jogged toward Keyshon and fired 15 shots.
Henderson became a suspect when his fingerprint was found inside the stolen Elantra after police located it days later. The shoes, hair and tattoos of the shooter seen in surveillance video matched those of Henderson.
Police also found photos Henderson posted to social media after the shooting, attempting to trade or sell a gun with a Biblical inscription on it. That gun was later recovered from the brother of an individual who was arrested with Henderson in connection to the car chase in West Allis.
The casings found at the homicide scene were a ballistic match with that gun, according to preliminary test results from police.