Investigators: 12-year-old boy charged with killing Milwaukee man over guns

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A 12-year-old boy is accused of killing a Milwaukee man over guns. 

On March 18, Milwaukee police responded to 38th and Townsend and located the body of Brandon Felton inside a residence. An autopsy revealed Felton died from a gunshot wound to the head. 

According to a criminal complaint, during the investigation, officials located a receipt in the living room for a delivery order from Domino's Pizza on March 15. The receipt led investigators to the 12-year-old defendant. 

The complaint says during an interview, the 12-year-old initially denied knowing anything about the pizza order or the death of Felton. When investigators told the boy he needed to be honest, he changed his story. The 12-year-old allegedly told investigators he was at Felton's residence when he was killed, and that Felton's friend "Sam" was there too. 

The defendant, according to the complaint, stated “Sam” killed Felton and he saw it happen. The boy allegedly said "Sam" would kill him if he said anything. After the shooting, the 12-year-old boy told investigators "Sam" went to Felton's bedroom and stole an AR-15 rifle and shotgun and left the scene. 

The complaint says the boy then called his friend to pick him up.

According to the complaint, the 12-year-old stated the only reason he was at Felton's house the day of the incident was to play video games, and they all played video games before the shooting. 

Following the interview, investigators say the 12-year-old boy's mother told police her son had lied and stated the boy and his friends went to Felton's home to buy Felton's guns. The complaint says Felton was not going to sell his guns and the 12-year-old and his friends wanted to take the guns. 

Text messages from the 12-year-old's phone to the friend that picked him up were noted in the complaint: 

Defendant: "I'm gonna do it to Brandan... Or should I kill him [right now]"
Friend: "Don’t let him know we coming"
Defendant: "He on the couch laying down..."
Defendant: "Cuz I can belt him (right now)"

The 12-year-old defendant has been charged with first degree intentional homicide. 

"There's so many things that influence a situation like that, you know, what's going on in the home, what did that child have to deal with," said Office of Violence Prevention Operations Manager Karen Tyler.

She says it's part of a disturbing trend of suspects in violent cases getting younger since the pandemic.

According to Tyler, whether it's poor home conditions, abuse, sexual assault, or poverty that causes children to act this way, it's something everyone can have a part in trying to prevent.

"Just calling all of Milwaukee to think about what they can do not only for their own children but really setting up those villages that support just the random youth on the block or somebody that you may see, you know we really gotta encourage everybody in this fight to bring these numbers down."