Isaiah Allen appears, inset, with his two children, against an image of the gas station where he was shot and killed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Aug. 16, 2023. (Screengrab via WISN; Google Maps)
A young Wisconsin man was recently killed over a matter of 25 cents, according to irate and grieving family members in Milwaukee.
Isaiah Allen, 29, died just after sunrise on Wednesday. He was shot at the Clark gas station near North Teutonia Avenue and West Roosevelt Drive in the Garden Homes neighborhood.
Allen’s family says he was shot by a security guard because he didn’t have the money to pay for a package of snacks.
The dead man lived one block away from where he was shot and killed, according to Milwaukee-based ABC affiliate WISN.
“He was funny, loving, he’d do anything to help somebody,” Allen’s mother, Natalie Easter, told the TV station. “He’s got two beautiful kids, 9 and 3, and now they gotta grow up without their daddy. Over a box of 25-cent cakes. I still can’t wrap my head around that.”
The victim’s mother said she learned about the ignominious way her son died from friends who told her they saw him get shot in the head after attempting to shoplift a pack of snack cakes.
“Allegedly over some cupcakes, this is what the witnesses stated,” Allen’s uncle Shawn Moore, told WISN. “Shot him outside the store.”
His family also said they were aware of a man who worked as security at the store in question, “at least unofficially,” according to the TV station. An employee at the gas station, however, told the TV station the shooter did not work there.
The Milwaukee Police Department has not verified the nature of the alleged 25-penny homicide.
“The victim, a 29-year-old Milwaukee male, sustained a fatal gunshot injury,” the MPD said in a press release about the homicide. “The circumstances leading up to the shooting are under investigation. Milwaukee Police continue to seek a known suspect.”
Law&Crime reached out to the police for additional details and comment on this story, but no response was immediately forthcoming.
“That’s my firstborn son,” Easter told local Fox affiliate WITI. “A gun shouldn’t come into play, especially over something so meaningless. Over 25-cent cakes. Are you for real?”
The grieving mother added that her son suffered from mental health issues. His father, Troy Allen, told WITI that his son was getting ready to move to Louisville to seek treatment.
The business was declared a public nuisance by the MPD in March over two other recent incidents involving guns. Now, people who live in the neighborhood want the gas station shut down.
A protest outside Clark gas station where Isaiah Allen was shot and killed on Aug. 16, 2023. (Screengrab via WISN)
“We want an emergency hearing that their license be revoked,” community activist Sedan Smith said at a Wednesday night vigil reported by WISN. “We don’t want them in our community. We don’t need their services, especially if they’re going to hire people that’s going to hurt us.”
Allen’s family also joined the vigil – and the call for the Clark station to be booted from the neighborhood.
“From this day forward, businesses like this that take advantage of us, they will not open, we will not support them and they will not get another dollar from us,” Moore said in comments reported by WISN.
But for now, the family is at a loss.
“Why?” Troy Allen asked out loud in comments reported by WITI.” That’s it. Just, why?”
“I don’t know what more to say other than he had a lot of family that loved him,” Easter added.” He wasn’t supposed to leave like this.”
The dead man’s father noted one final point of indignity that he found particularly galling.
“It’s sad,” he told WISN. “It’s tragic, but the sad part about it is how they just washed his blood off and then re-opened up like nothing had happened. Like, that’s what hurts me, like nothing happened.”
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