A Milwaukee County judge has set in motion the process that could eventually free the man who opened fire inside Milwaukee Police District 5 in February 2022, and the city's police union is not staying quiet about it. Judge Nidhi Kashyap on Thursday, October 1, 2026, ordered the Wisconsin Department of Health Services to begin preparing a release treatment plan for 28-year-old Darreon Parker-Bell, a step that signals he could be a candidate for conditional release from the state mental health facility where he has been held since his case concluded.
The order, reported by FOX6 News Milwaukee, marks the formal start of a months-long evaluation process rather than an immediate release. Parker-Bell was committed to state care after a judge found him not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, and the court is now considering whether he can be conditionally released. The station's report notes that Milwaukee Police Association President Alex Ayala wasted no time blasting the possibility, calling Parker-Bell, in his words, a menace to society, according to WISN.
Gunfire Inside a Police Station Lobby
The shooting happened on February 25, 2022, when Parker-Bell walked into District 5 near Vel R. Phillips and Locust, according to WISN. He was reportedly told that details about the death of his friend, Keishon Thomas, who had died in police custody the week before, could not be shared because of an active investigation. Surveillance footage described by FOX6 News Milwaukee showed Parker-Bell drawing a .40-caliber handgun and firing three shots toward officers behind the front desk, with civilians in the lobby taking cover and officers behind the counter going uninjured.
Per WISN's reporting, one officer narrowly avoided being shot while attempting to return fire. Parker-Bell then fled outdoors while still armed, and pursuing officers repeatedly ordered him to drop the weapon before shooting and wounding him when he pointed the gun toward them, per the same FOX6 account. He was arrested outside the station and hospitalized before being transferred into criminal custody.
From Eight Felony Charges to a Mental Health Commitment
Prosecutors initially charged Parker-Bell with eight felony counts, including attempted first-degree homicide, according to AP News. He later admitted to the shooting, and prosecutors proceeded on four felony counts of recklessly endangering safety. In April 2023, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge David Feiss formally found him not criminally responsible by reason of mental disease or defect after three court-appointed doctors concluded he suffered from severe mental illness during the incident, AP News reported.
Judge Kashyap, who handled the commitment proceedings, ruled that Parker-Bell lacked the ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions and ordered him to serve up to 30 years in a state mental health facility, according to WISN. Parker-Bell is now being considered for conditional release under Wisconsin Statute § 971.17.
The Death That Triggered It All
The chain of events traces back to Keishon Thomas, who died on February 23, 2022, from an acute mixed drug overdose inside a District 5 holding cell. According to FOX6 News Milwaukee, arresting officers failed to seek medical attention despite observing him dry heave and ingest drugs during booking; Thomas had originally been taken into custody during a traffic stop on a bench warrant. Two officers later faced criminal charges connected to his death — former Officer Donald Krueger pleaded guilty to misconduct in office and paid a $5,000 fine in March 2024, while Officer Marco Lopez pleaded guilty to attempted misconduct for falsifying 10 cell check logs, per FOX6's reporting. Krueger retired while on administrative leave, and Lopez was suspended.
In November 2025, the Milwaukee Common Council unanimously approved a $2.5 million wrongful death settlement for Thomas' family, resolving civil litigation that alleged police misconduct and a failure to provide medical care, according to CBS 58. The settlement resolved the family's wrongful-death claims.
Union Vows to Fight Release in December
Ayala, in an October 1 statement, said Parker-Bell started firing rounds indiscriminately at people inside the police station, and noted that one of his bullets passed through a lobby desk partition inches from an officer's head, according to FOX6 News Milwaukee. He characterized the potential release as an outrage to law enforcement and the community. The Milwaukee Police Association plans to formally testify against the release at a status conference scheduled for December 7, 2026, according to WISN.
Parker-Bell's possible release remains contingent on the treatment plan the Department of Health Services is now required to prepare, which will go before Judge Kashyap ahead of that December hearing. The shooting itself left a lasting physical mark on Milwaukee's police infrastructure: in its aftermath, the Milwaukee Police Department and the Milwaukee Police Foundation funded a $260,000 project, backed by $195,000 in private gifts, to install bullet-resistant glass across all city police district lobbies by July 2022, according to Urban Milwaukee. Major donors included former Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, along with Phoenix Investors and Klein Development.
