Beloved corn vendor killed by man accused of robbing pizza driver, Wisconsin cops say
Nearly two weeks after a longtime Milwaukee street vendor was killed in a robbery, a man has been charged in the fatal shooting.
Antoine Alphonse Jr. faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide and armed robbery, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Hispanic News Network. He is accused of robbing a Domino’s delivery driver the same night Emilio Garza was shot and killed, officials say.
Alphonse appeared in court for the first time on Wednesday and remains in jail on a $200,000 bond, according to FOX 6.
Garza was a part of the Milwaukee community who everyone knew, his brother, Jose Ramirez, told CBS 58. The 52-year-old beloved corn vendor was shot nine times Aug. 28 by two suspects, a detective wrote in the complaint.
Surveillance footage shows two men approach Garza while he was pushing his cart, according to the complaint. Garza was shot twice during a struggle and is shown running away from the suspects, documents show.
The suspects chased Garza and he was shot several more times by a man officials later determined to be Alphonse. As Garza was on the ground, Alphonse is shown removing property from him, according to the complaint. Garza was carrying $138 at the time of the shooting.
Surveillance footage matches Alphonse’s tattoos, mustache and voice, the detective wrote in the complaint.
Alphonse and two other men are also accused of an armed robbery of a Domino’s driver. They allegedly stole $100 from his pockets and took his driver’s license, phone, credit cards and watch, according to the complaint. Alphonse fired one shot into the air as the victim drove away and the shell casings matched the ones from Garza’s shooting, the complaint states.
He was arrested Saturday following a “lengthy vehicle pursuit” and fired a handgun before being taken into custody, police say. Alphonse faces life in prison if convicted of the homicide charge, according to the criminal complaint.
Hours before Alphonse was arrested, a march for justice was held in Garza’s honor.
“Just like Black Lives Matters are doing over there, we would like to see how the police are responding to this act because we are not going to tolerate nothing like that in the community,” said marcher Juan Fuentes, according to CBS 58.
Garza’s sister-in-law said he acted like a therapist for the south side of Milwaukee.
“People would just talk to him,” Daisy Diaz told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “He just found words to try to help them.”
A Mexico native, Garza came to Wisconsin in 1995 and sold corn for 20 years, the newspaper reported.
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 11:22 AM with the headline "Beloved corn vendor killed by man accused of robbing pizza driver, Wisconsin cops say."