Washington Park fatal shooting, Milwaukee man pleads not guilty

MILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee man accused of shooting and killing a man at Washington Park pleaded not guilty Wednesday, Sept. 6 and was bound over for trial.

Triston Brown, 20, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and strangulation/suffocation in connection Naquon Henry’s death.

According to a criminal complaint, a ShotSpotter notification alerted police to possible gunshots in the area of Washington Park early on July 25. When officers arrived at the scene, they found Henry shot near the playground.

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Officers saw someone near the shooting scene and asked where the shooter went. That person told the officers the shooter went eastbound on Lisbon Avenue and provided a description.

A short time later, an officer spotted a man matching the description of the shooter walking east on Lisbon near 34th Street. When the officer tried to make contact with the man, he began running. The officer “observed this subject to have a firearm in his hands,” the complaint said.

The complaint said police set up a containment perimeter and saw the man running. The complaint states they also found a “black bag, puffy jacket, and ski mask” – inside the bag they “found a phone, box of 9mm bullets, and identifiers for…Triston Brown.”

When police conducted their “next of kin notification” for Henry, they were provided a potential name of a girl Henry had been with.

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When officers went to the girl’s home, someone told them Brown was the person responsible for Henry’s homicide. They also spoke with the girl, who said Brown threatened her – stating that “if he could not have (the girl), then no one would,” per the complaint.

The girl told police she agreed to meet with Brown at the Police District 3 station. When she met with him, the complaint states Brown “strangled her, punched her, pointed a gun at her, took her cellphone, and forced her to go to Washington Park.” Brown then used the girl’s phone to get Henry to the park and “shot him multiple times.”

Police interviewed Brown. The complaint states he admitted he shot Henry, admitted he got into a fight with the girl and “that guy” and that the recovered gun was his. Brown went on to say he “could not indicate” how many shots he fired and said he “blacked out.”

Brown made his initial appearance in Milwaukee County court on Sunday, July 30. Cash bond was set at $250,000.