Milwaukee mother says one of the suspects charged in DEA drug busts shot her three times

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MILWAUKEE, Wis. (CBS 58)-- State and federal officials announced two major drug busts in Milwaukee, where 37 people were charged, including six in Puerto Rico. The suspects used US mail to distribute cocaine.

As the investigation continues, a victim of gun violence in Milwaukee is raising claims against one of the suspects. She says one of the men charged shot her in 2018.

DEA agents describe Keven Torres-Bonilla as a mid-level drug distributor during their investigations. In 2018, Torres-Bonilla was accused of shooting a mother of two on Milwaukee’s south side.

Police reports say Angie Martinez suffered a broken rib after being shot three times in the back in August 2018. Martinez was shot in the alley behind her home.

Martinez can’t speak English, and had her daughter translate what happened when she spoke with CBS 58.

“My brother was just about to come out of the door when she got shot and all she thought was ‘my kids, they’re going to be alone,’” said Yaeshomarie Maldonado, Angie Martinez’s daughter.

Martinez knew Torres-Bonilla because he was dating her cousin. Martinez told police he shot her after the two exchanged words. The trauma of the shooting still follows her to this day. 

”She can’t function around too many people,” said Maldonado. “She can’t be in close groups. When she goes out she tries to go out with somebody, she doesn’t go alone. She used to be okay, but now it’s different. Everything changed since that day.”

Court records show Torres-Bonilla was arrested in September 2018 for the shooting and was released on a $10,000 bond.  The shooting was eventually dismissed, and Martinez says she wasn’t given a protection order.

She wants the district attorney’s office to re-open her case.

“He hasn’t just hurt us, we know other people he’s hurt,” adds Maldonado. “It’s not fair that she has to go through this.”

During the drug bust investigation, the DEA intercepted nearly 300 phone messages belonging to Torres-Bonilla between June and December 2019. The messages reveal he was dealing large amounts of cocaine.

Even though they didn’t get justice for the 2018 shooting, Martinez and her daughter says they’re relieved now that Torres-Bonilla is at least facing drug charges.  

CBS 58 reached out to the prosecutor in the 2018 shooting case to find out why it was dismissed, but have not yet heard back.

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