MILWAUKEE — A man who appeared to be working as a security guard shot and killed another man who allegedly stole Little Debbie snacks from a Milwaukee gas station, according to authorities.
29-year-old Isaiah Allen was shot and killed at the gas station at Roosevelt and Teutonia on Aug. 16, sparking protests from members of the community.
56-year-old William Henry Pinkin of Milwaukee has now been charged with first-degree intentional homicide in connection to the homicide. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life behind bars.
According to a criminal complaint released Sunday, police responded to the gas station and convenience store at 4295 N. Teutonia around 6:15 a.m. for a report of a shooting. There officers found the victim on the ground bleeding from the head. The victim, later identified as Allen, was pronounced dead at the scene. The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide, from a gunshot wound.
Surveillance video shows the inside and outside of the gas station. The video shows a man apparently working as a security guard seated in a chair in an aisle at the back of the store. Video shows the victim grabbing a box of Little Debbie snack cakes from a shelf just inside the door and then immediately turning and heading back outside the door.
The video shows the security guard rise from the chair as soon as the victim enters the store and then move towards him, visibly showing a handgun in the guard's hands, according to the complaint.
The guard "rushes" toward and follows the victim out the door, "gets within a little more than arm’s length behind him, holds up the gun, and shoots towards the back of [the victim's] head," the complaint states.
The victim falls and doesn't rise again. The guard stands over the victim for a moment and returns to the store. The guard remained at the scene after police arrived, and found him "milling around calmy" and smoking a cigarette.
The guard told officers who hadn't seen the surveillance video yet that he works at the store but had not seen the shooting. Eventually, he left.
The complaint states the video clearly shows the shooter's face, identified in the complaint as Pinkin.
Authorities note in the complaint that on June 22, 2023, police were called to a robbery complaint at the same gas station. The responding officers spoke with Pinkin then, who told them he had witnessed the robbery.
The owner of the gas station told police the defendant Pinkin was a man from the neighborhood who worked for the store.
Cash bond was set at $250,000 for William Henry Pinkin during his initial appearance on Tuesday.
What we knew before the criminal complaint
The man's family said he was Isaiah Allen. His mother, Natalie Easter, said he visited the Clark gas station and convenience store often and may have been shot for stealing, though she's not certain.
"I want the man who killed my son to be arrested, and prosecuted," said Easter. "My son didn't deserve to die, regardless of what happened."
MPD data shows that since January, there have been 86 calls for service to the Clark station at Roosevelt and Teutonia.
Many of the calls were for traffic stops or business checks, but others were for armed robbery and battery.
After an armed robbery at a gas pump in February and report last November of a man shooting a gun in the air outside, police deemed the building a nuisance property.
The owner, Talwinder Singh Gill, said his family has leased the building for 20 years and has nothing to do with daily operations. Singh said he doesn't know how or why Allen was shot and killed.
According to city records, the nuisance order was appealed and settled. Gill said his tenant who runs the store isn't doing anything illegal. TMJ4 News has attempted to reach the tenant.
Natalie Easter said her family wants accountability, whether that's from the gas station's owner or the city.
Gill said he spoke with his tenant, and out of deference to the family, the gas station will be closed for several days. It will also remain closed out of concerns of possible damage or violence if people gather, according to Gill.
Milwaukee police are asking anyone with information to contact them at (414) 935-7360, or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at (414)224-Tips/ or P3 Tips.
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