Officials: Man charged with beating ex-girlfriend's new friend to death at Bradford Beach
Updated: 7:46 p.m. on July 22, 2020
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office says the victim beaten to death at Bradford Beach has been identified as Matthew J. Ness.
------
Posted: 10:11 a.m. on July 22, 2020
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A 24-year-old man from Greenfield has been charged with felony murder in connection to a beating death that happened at Milwaukee's Bradford Beach on Sunday, July 12.
Joseph Sharp has been charged with one count of felony murder, battery.
According to a criminal complaint, just before 9:30 p.m. on July 12, deputies were called to Bradford Beach for a reported battery. They located a male in the parking lot with visible trauma to his head and face. Deputies determined the man was not breathing and pulseless. Members of the Milwaukee Fire Department attempted lifesaving measures but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
A woman who was helping the victim after he was hurt, told investigators the victim is a new friend of hers and the person who beat him up was her ex-boyfriend, Joseph Sharp.
The woman told investigators Sharp approached the two, who were sitting at Bradford Beach listening to music, and within a few seconds Sharp was "on top of [the victim] wailing on him, he was wailing on his face."
Investigators say the woman reported Sharp punched the victim more than seven times while he was on top of him. When he finally stopped, the woman told officials she heard the victim gasping for air.
Sharp reportedly then stated to the woman, "I should have done this a long time ago to you."
Authorities ruled the victim's cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head and ruled a homicide.