He Tried to Silence Witnesses to His Crimes
Eddie Powe told the police who had shot him just before he died on a Milwaukee street in a dispute involving women, drugs and money. But the authorities needed more than his dying words, they needed to find eyewitnesses. The shooter Powe named had the same idea, and he hunted them down with deadly intent.
Ashley Luthern and John Diedrich detail this case in a six part series for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “The Intimidator.” Although their reporting focuses tightly on this single case, they also provide wider context: Powe’s murder in 2015 occurred when Milwaukee’s homicide soared to its highest level since the 1990s and when witness intimidation was becoming epidemic. Nearly 190 people were charged with the crime that year — a 250% increase from a decade before.
In this scene, the reporters describe the final hours of Powe’s 17-year-old girlfriend, Breanna. She is riding in a car with her twin sister and Wynette McClelland, a 32-year-old woman who had befriended the twins a while back and who was also childhood friends with the man Powe had named, Antonio “Tone” Smith.
Breanna continued to return to the site of her boyfriend’s killing.
The night of July 19, she met her twin sister and McClelland on The One-Way. They lit vigil candles, smoked and hung out for a bit before McClelland needed to go pick up a friend. She offered the twins a ride on her way.
The twins didn’t want to go back to the group home — they had a pass to be out for the night — so Brittany suggested they stay with a friend on Concordia Ave.
They got in McClelland's car. As she pulled away, McClelland got a call from Smith. He asked where she was. She said she was on her way to the club.
Yeah, right, I know them (expletive) are with you, Smith said.
McClelland hung up and drove the twins to pick up her friend, the one who was going with her to the club.
McClelland's friend climbed in the back seat with Breanna, who was seated behind McClelland while her twin rode up front in the passenger seat.
As McClelland headed toward the twins' destination on Concordia, she glanced in her rearview mirror and noticed a blue Chevy Impala. It seemed to be following her.
Maybe she was imagining it. She had taken some Ecstasy earlier.
The twins asked her to stop at the Mobil gas station near the freeway so they could buy snacks. McClelland obliged, hoping the blue car would stop following if they made a detour.
After the twins went inside the station to buy candy and gum, McClelland got another call.
It was Smith: Hurry up and drop them off or I'm going to shoot up your car.
McClelland looked around but didn’t see the blue car. The twins returned. McClelland said nothing.
She continued driving, making a few turns before getting to Concordia and stopping at the corner of N. 13th St. Brittany helped McClelland’s friend, who was tipsy and wearing tall, spiky heels, to the front passenger seat.
“Hurry up,” McClelland said.
Her friend plopped down in the passenger seat. Before she had a chance to close the door, McClelland sped off.
The sisters walked side-by-side up a few concrete steps and were halfway to the porch when Brittany heard someone say, “Twin, come here. Twin!”
She ignored it. No one knew they were staying here tonight. They climbed the wooden porch stairs.
A man dressed in all black emerged from the tight alleyway between houses. Brittany would later say all she could see were the man’s eyes and his black, 9mm gun.
“This is a robbery,” the man said. “Where the gun at?”
The twins froze. The man jumped onto the porch and held the gun to Breanna’s temple.
“Where the gun at?" he said. "Where the money?”
Breanna looked at her sister: “Brittany, run!”
Her sister obeyed and was close to the street corner when she heard several gunshots.
She turned and saw her sister lying on the porch, the man standing over her.
He kept firing.
