A Milwaukee man will spend 15 years in prison, followed by seven years of extended supervision, after pleading guilty in the death of 4-year-old Jainadia Little. The girl was shot inside a North Side home in February 2025 and later died at a hospital, a killing that rattled neighbors and sharpened the spotlight on unsecured guns in homes with children.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 41-year-old Anthony Brookshire pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless homicide and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Circuit Court Judge David Borowski handed down the 15-year prison term at a hearing Thursday and called Brookshire "a menace to society and a disgrace to his family," the paper reported.
How Investigators Say the Night Unfolded
Police say a 911 call came in just after 9:45 p.m. on Feb. 17, 2025. Officers arrived at a home near N. 39th Street and W. Sheridan Avenue and found Jainadia in a back bedroom with a fatal gunshot wound to the chest. Investigators described a deflated air mattress with blood spatter and a hole in the upper center portion, and they recovered a single spent 7.62x39 casing on the mattress. A recording included in the criminal complaint captured a woman pleading, "stay with me, stay with me," as she tried to get help, according to reporting by WISN.
Guns on an Air Mattress and a Long Record
Investigators recovered two firearms from a vehicle outside the home, a 9mm Taurus and a Draco-style 7.62x39. Prosecutors say Brookshire had stored a weapon under pillows on an air mattress before the shooting, as reported by CBS 58. Court filings and reporting indicate Brookshire admitted trying to "clean the scene" by putting the weapon in a bag, and that he has six prior felony convictions, five of them tied to firearm offenses. He was on active community supervision with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections at the time, according to TMJ4.
What Comes Next in the Case
Brookshire pleaded guilty in December to the homicide and felon-in-possession charges, and prosecutors say that plea led to the sentence imposed Thursday, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Derreanna Little has pleaded not guilty to a charge of neglecting a child with the consequence of death as a party to a crime and is scheduled for a March 27, 2026, scheduling conference, court records show.
