2 Charged in Fatal Crime Spree: 19 Shootings, 267 Shots Fired
Wisconsin Department of Corrections | Milwaukee County Sheriffs Office
Wisconsin Department of Corrections | Milwaukee County Sheriffs Office
Two men from Milwaukee have been charged with their participation in a 2017 crime spree. The spree lasted six weeks and left two people dead and three wounded.
The crime spree involved 19 separate shootings, with at least 267 rounds fired from eight guns, usually from inside of stolen cars.
The charges against Caleb Virgil, 18, and Davion Pickens, 20, were unveiled this week after a 42-page criminal complaint detailed how a feud among three groups escalated from a street robbery in a Milwaukee neighborhood to violence involving stolen cars and drug deals.
The complaint stated, “This rivalry involved robberies and shootings, and did involve innocent bystanders being shot and killed during the rivalry.”
In one incident, witnesses reported seeing a vehicle rolling down the street. Two gunmen were shooting out of the windows while a third stood up through the open sunroof.
The groups “would use the same firearms and stolen vehicles to involve themselves in a series of shootings and violent rivalries over a period of time in Milwaukee from early October 2017 to December 2017,” the complaint also stated.
At one point one of the groups offered to “stop shooting at the group if the group paid them $10,000.”
Related: Footprints Lead Police to Burglar in Bizarre Crime Spree
Prosecutors charged the two leaders of the crime spree with one homicide each. Together they also received a single count of reckless endangerment.
Davion Pickens was charged for the November 20, 2017 death of Xavier Barfield, 20, who was chased down North 51st Street in his car. Pickens hit Barfield with a barrage of gunfire while in one of the group’s stolen cars.
Caleb Virgil was charged for the October 29, 2017 death of Darrius Rose, 26. Rose was sitting in a car on the 6000 block of North Teutonia Avenue when he was killed.
Neither of the two victims were the intended targets and were mistaken for members of the rival groups. Pickens and Virgil were also charged for shooting at a police car on October 24, 2017. The police car was attempting to chase the two men down the 7000 block of North 24th place.
Related: Identical Twins Wanted After Beating Woman with Frying Pan
Both men are in custody to face the charges against them as the result of their violent six-week crime spree.