'You're killing my mother!': Jury convicts man of shooting girlfriend 15 times

Askia Strong wanted Nikeya Shumake dead.

It didn't matter to him that their three children looked on from an SUV just a few feet away as he repeatedly pulled a trigger one day last year, trying to end her life, a prosecutor argued in court.

Shumake, however, survived the attack.

A Milwaukee County jury Thursday convicted Strong, 33, of Waukesha, of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, as well as other charges.

During the four-day trial, jurors heard from 12 witnesses, including police investigators and detectives who described a macabre scene at a South 24th Street alley, one littered with bullet fragments and spent 9mm shells.

Shumake and her 13-year-old daughter provided the most compelling testimony. Shumake and the teen became emotional as they separately recounted the July 23, 2022, shooting from the witness stand.

Each identified Strong as the shooter.

"My dad just shot my mom!" the girl can be heard screaming on a 911 recording that was played in court.

Video of the incident captured on a surveillance camera in the alley where the shooting occurred also was shown to jurors. Defense attorney Theodore O'Reilly, of Milwaukee, argued the footage was too grainy and recorded from too far away to prove definitively Strong was the person who pulled the trigger.

Here's what investigators say happened that day

Shumake was driving with Strong and their three children — ages 12, 5 and 2 at the time — on South 24th Street to pick up a cell phone from a cousin's house. On the way, Strong tried to show inappropriate pictures to their daughter.

Shumake told him to stop and that started an argument. Strong hit her in the face with the blunt end of a gun, according to a July 28, 2022, criminal complaint detailing the incident.

Strong threatened her and yelled at her until their vehicle pulled up in front of the cousin's home. Strong, who was in the back seat, wouldn't get out of the vehicle and threatened to shoot her if she didn't start "acting right," the criminal complaint said.

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'Stop! You're killing my mother!'

Shumake was able to put the vehicle in park. It was then that Strong told her he was going to shoot her. Shumake got out of the vehicle and began to run.

Strong got out of the car and chased the woman down an alley.

A gunshot was fired. The woman felt pain in her neck and under her right ear. That's when the gunman shot her point blank in the upper back. She fell to the ground, then the gunman stood over her, then starting firing again.

And again.

"His intent was clear. He was trying to kill her," Assistant District Attorney Katie Bakunowicz told the jury.

Shumake was struck in the abdomen, stomach and pubic area. One of her lungs collapsed.

Investigators would later count "15-23 bullet holes; staff at St. Luke's Hospital described her as having been shot 'all over her body,'" the complaint says.

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Shumake's daughter tried to help. She yelled at Strong: "Stop, you're killing my mother!" The woman's younger children, ages 5 and 2, ran toward her as the gunman was shooting her.

After Strong left the scene on foot, Shumake somehow was able to get up and walk, with her children, towards South 24th Street.

It was there that a Good Samaritan found her and drove her to the hospital.

Strong also was convicted of recklessly endangering safety, first-degree reckless injury, being a felon in possession of a firearm, all felonies. He also was found guilty of a misdemeanor charge of bail jumping.

Sentencing was scheduled for Nov. 17 before Circuit Court Judge Rebecca A. Kiefer.

The gun used in the attack was never recovered.