Family holds vigil for man killed near 87th and Mill
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- An emotional scene played out tonight, on July 20, on the north side after a road rage incident killed a man 24 hours earlier. It happened at 87th and Mill where shock has now overcome the family of a man who had so much to live for. They tell CBS 58 he just celebrated his 50th birthday in Hawaii and they're devastated.
Daniel Dewalt wore red to a vigil in his cousin's honor. So did a lot of other people. He smiles as he tells us his cousin's nickname was Hollywood.
Hollywood, also known as Ronald Butler Junior, loved the color red. He was driving on Mill Road, his children in his vehicle, when family say he yelled out to a speeding car to slow down.
"Just heard he was boxed off, it was like ambush kind of thing that went down on him," said Dewalt.
The shooting took his life around 6:00 Tuesday evening near 87th and Mill. A day later, family leaves candles spelling out "Hollywood" for this music entrepreneur whose label is "Tri Entertainment."
"Because you know you can't achieve nothing unless you try. So we tried music, we tried everything, so try helping the young generation and all that. It's sad to say that the young generation is probably the one that took his life you know," said Dewalt.
The scene of the accident has been cleared up. Neighbors say hearing children cry out was horrific.
"It was sad, real sad," said Thomas Ferguson, who lives near the scene.
"Violence happens all the time here in Milwaukee, unfortunately you never get used to it, but when it's so close to you it's definitely worse," said Corey Briggs, who lives near the scene.
"It can't get no worse than that you know, get killed in front of your kids and then from what I heard, they called and you know trying to wake him up. Mentally what I heard today just destroyed me so. That they was trying to wake him up, come on daddy get up and, come on daddy, we love you please daddy, but you know. He got a lot of kids and he love them all and this is where we at now," said Dewalt.
Milwaukee police continue to search for the gunman.
A GoFundMe for Butler can be found here.