Fatal shooting latest in string of acts of gun violence in Waukesha

Police found this shoe at 735 E. North St., the scene of an Aug. 14. shooting.
Published on: 8/18/2015

After the most recent homicide in Waukesha, a question borne out of concern has arisen: Has the number of violent crimes increased in recent years in the city?

Capt. Ron Oremus said it's hard to quantify that because there are multiple aspects that go into labeling a violent crime.

But Oremus said as far as direct homicide cases, where someone has been killed by someone else, the numbers have been steady over the last six years.

From 2009 to 2015, there have been a combined eight homicides in the city.

Oremus said that number doesn't include attempted homicides such as the 2014 Slender Man stabbing case, in which two girls nearly killed a fellow classmate by stabbing her 19 times in a Waukesha park. Or when three men shot at a vehicle in connection with a drug robbery outside Woodman's Food Market in 2013.

On the other hand, two homicides that have occurred in the last eight months in the city have been shooting deaths.

Most recent killing

The most recent incident shocked a Waukesha neighborhood after a 40-year-old man, Kevin J. Hueman, was shot and killed outside his family's home at 735 E. North St. Friday evening, Aug. 14.

Hueman was married and a father of a 6-month-old child.

Police continue to search for the suspect who, according to police, shot Hueman at about 8:10 p.m. in the 200 block of Albert Street, just west of Frame Park and east of Moor Downs Golf Course.

As of Monday morning, Oremus said police are investigating "a bunch of leads." Police hope an athletic shoe, believed to belong to the suspect, can direct them to the suspect. Police recovered the shoe on East North Street at Albert Street, the area of the shooting.

After he was shot, Hueman was transported to Waukesha Memorial Hospital after emergency crews arrived to the scene. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

Police encourage anyone with more information on the suspect or the shooting to contact Detective Servando Benitez at (262) 524-3926.

Recent homicides

Like that incident, with a suspect not immediately in custody, the community was on edge after a gas station clerk in Waukesha was murdered in January. Two of the three suspects were arrested and later charged shortly after while a third person was at-large for about a month.

All three have pleaded not guilty to the charged offenses and await trials later this year. Kenneth Thomas, 20, of West Allis, faces first-degree intentional homicide charges as well as armed robbery and possessing a firearm by a felon, while Darrin Malone, 28, and Jerica Cotton, 24, face charges of felony murder-party to a crime.

In 2014, the two homicide cases did not involve gun violence.

In one instance, the suspect will spend many years behind bars after pleading guilty to first-degree reckless homicide, while the other was recently released after a jury found him not guilty in another man's death.

Nicole Wagester, 32, was recently sentenced to 35 years in prison for kicking a toddler she was babysitting last year to death.

A few months earlier, Floyd A. Smith, 61, was charged with strangulation and suffocation, felony murder and second-degree reckless homicide in the death of a man who he shared an adjoining apartment above The Lucky Rabbit, 206 Madison St.

In 2012, gas station clerk Nayyer M. Rana, 56, was shot and killed by 20-year-old Billy J. Ingram of Waukesha at the Broadway Petro Mart. Ingram was later found guilty by a jury to first-degree intentional homicide and armed robbery and possession of a firearm by a felon. He received life in prison without parole.

There were no homicides in 2011, Oremus said.

The homicide in 2010 involved a 25-year-old Waukesha man shooting his best friend to death in the 2000 block of Cliff Alex Court South. The killing did not result in a life sentence like Ingram's. After entering a plea to avoid a trial, Steven P. Osburn had his first-degree intentional homicide charge reduced to second-degree intentional homicide. He received a 28-year prison sentence from a judge.

In 2009, there were two homicides, one of which was committed by David A. Wapp, who has since died in prison from a drug overdose. Wapp had been sentenced in June 2010 to life in prison with no possibility for parole in the brutal stabbing of his ex-girlfriend outside the Waukesha home of Wapp's aunt. A jury later found Wapp guilty of first-degree intentional homicide.

In this instance the victim and defendant knew each other. Oremus said most homicide cases typically fit that description where a high percentage of homicides involve a relative.