A Milwaukee man gunned down his sister in the same house as a child logged on to a remote class, and a school official said Thursday the other online students also heard it all.
Michelle Blackmon, 52, was shot several times in the face and head Friday morning inside her kitchen at 6824 W. Silver Spring Drive, police and prosecutors said.
Mario Stokes, 45, has been charged with first-degree homicide and illegal possession of a firearm, according to a criminal complaint filed by Milwaukee County prosecutors. The shooting happened inside a house where a youngster was participating in an online class.
"It was one of our MPS students that had a shooting happen while they were on the (remote) classroom and everyone could hear it," Milwaukee Public Schools spokesman Earl Arms told NBC News. "It was inside the house."
The student inside the house was a 9-year-old girl, a Milwaukee County Medical Examiner administrator said.
"A school age child residing at the residence was active in an online classroom when the incident occurred," according to a medical examiner statement. "Multiple gunshots were heard by classmates and a teacher in the online classroom platform and the teacher activated 911 to the address on file for the student."
Stokes and his sister had been arguing the night before, with the defendant being told "he would have to leave the house the next day," a criminal complaint prepared by Assistant DA Michael Schindhelm said.
Another resident of the house was upstairs when five shots rang out, and Stokes allegedly told that witness, "I'm on my way to the police to turn myself in," the criminal complaint said.
Milwaukee police officer Monique Foster was working the front desk of a station two blocks from the shooting when Stokes "entered and informed her that his sister no longer existed, that he did it and that he used a .380," Schindhelm wrote.
A .380 Smith & Wesson handgun with spent shell casings were found in the kitchen and dining room, the prosecutor said.
The weapons charge against Stokes stems from allegedly having a gun as a previously convicted felon. Stokes was found "guilty but not guilty due to mental disease/defect" for possession of a firearm, court records showed.
Stokes' lawyer from his previous conviction declined to comment on Thursday.
