Inset: Azoria Jones (Facebook). Background: Courtroom footage of Javier Smith during his plea hearing (Law&Crime).
A Wisconsin teenager will spend the next decade of his life behind bars after he fatally shot his 15-year-old girlfriend.
Javier Smith, 17, pleaded guilty in June to second-degree reckless homicide in connection with the death of his girlfriend, 15-year-old Azoria Jones. According to a criminal complaint reviewed by Law&Crime, Milwaukee police were dispatched after getting calls about a shooting on the night of Sept. 21, 2025. When officers arrived at the scene, they found Azoria on the ground with "blood on her shirt." She was pronounced dead of a gunshot wound at the scene.
A witness in the neighborhood told police that she saw the teen couple walking down the sidewalk before hearing a gunshot. The same witness told police that she heard Azoria "groaning" while Smith was yelling out, "[S]top playing, girl!" She then saw Smith running away from the scene and called out to him, asking if he needed an ambulance. The witness said Smith did not respond.
Another witness who heard the gunshot told police that she heard Jones scream, "Oh, my God!" and then start crying. The same witness heard Smith ask, "Are you okay?" When the witness looked out her window, she saw Azoria fall to the ground. Smith asked again, "Are you okay? Wake up!" The witness also saw Smith run away.
Police identified Smith after speaking to Azoria's family members, who knew Smith was her boyfriend. One of Azoria's aunts told police that Smith had pulled a gun on her while she was with the couple.
Police spoke to Smith's grandmother, who said the teens left her home to pick up a food order around 10:15 p.m. on the night of the shooting. Minutes later, Smith came running back to the house saying, "[T]hey shot her!" and to call 911, which his grandmother did.
After police took Smith into custody three days after the shooting, he first told them that he and Azoria were walking, "he heard a shot and then he ran." Police said he "changed his story numerous times" and denied shooting Azoria or even owning a gun. He eventually claimed that he shot Azoria by accident, saying he was carrying his gun under his arm when someone drove up next to them that he thought was going to "buss it down." Then the gun, Smith claimed, "went off." Later in the interview, Smith admitted that he was the one who shot Azoria, "believing he shot her in the chest."
Smith admitted to getting rid of his gun in a sewer.
According to the complaint, police were able to find surveillance video that captured the moment of the shooting. The video came from a Milwaukee County Transit bus that passed the teens walking on the sidewalk. At 10:19 p.m., the video captured the sound of a gunshot and Azoria falling to the ground. Smith leaned over Azoria "for a few seconds" before fleeing on foot. Police said no other cars appeared in the area in the moments before the shooting.
Smith was initially charged with first-degree reckless homicide and possession of a weapon by a person under the age of 18. He pleaded guilty on June 4 to second-degree reckless homicide, and the dismissed weapons charge was read out in court. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison plus six more years of supervised release.