Milwaukee Teen, 15, Charged in Bus Stop Killing of Classmate

Milwaukee County prosecutors have charged a 15-year-old with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of a 16-year-old classmate who stepped off the same city bus moments earlier. Robbiel L. Stokes is accused of shooting Camron Bowen near Layton Boulevard and Greenfield Avenue on Saturday, Sept. 19. Bowen died in the street.

Stokes has not been arrested. A warrant is out for him, and he was still not in custody when the charge was announced. FOX6 noted that no booking photo exists for him because he remains wanted.

The charge is first-degree intentional homicide, use of a dangerous weapon, filed against Stokes as an adult, according to the criminal complaint and court records. Both teenagers attended Bay View High School.

Six seconds after the rear door opened

Six seconds passed between the two boys stepping off the county bus and the first shot, prosecutors say. That window is the center of the case against Stokes.

Bowen got on the bus first. Stokes boarded about 10 minutes later and sat next to him, prosecutors said. The two ended up near each other in the back, and the conversation between them turned heated. Bus security cameras recorded the argument.

When the bus stopped, both teens went out through the rear doors. The complaint says Stokes got behind Bowen as they exited, then pulled a handgun from his hoodie pocket and started firing at Bowen as he ran.

Witnesses told investigators the shooter chased Bowen in front of the bus and kept shooting. Bowen collapsed in the middle of the road and died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds.

The medical examiner found six gunshot wounds. Bowen's mother, Jennifer Cassidy, has said her son was shot seven times in what she called "an ambush."

Surveillance video from inside the bus shows Bowen standing behind Stokes, who was wearing a black hoodie and carrying a backpack, the complaint states.

A school fight three days before

The complaint traces the conflict back to a fight at Bay View High School on Sept. 16, three days before the shooting. Investigators reached out to school staff, who told them the two boys had fought days earlier.

Bowen had been suspended after confronting another student over a stolen item, a friend told investigators. School officials later identified Stokes as the student involved in that earlier altercation.

Bowen's mother has said her son had been bullied and was sticking up for himself and some friends when he was shot.

A friend was on a video call when the shooting started

One of Bowen's friends was on a video call with him just before the gunfire and told investigators he heard arguing in the background, according to the complaint. It is one of the only live accounts of the minutes before the shooting outside of the bus camera footage.

Police were dispatched to the scene on Layton, between National and Greenfield avenues, where they found Bowen in the street.

A ride in the rain and a .40-caliber cartridge

Stokes called his mother minutes after police were dispatched and asked her to pick him up near 35th Street, the complaint says. She told authorities he was soaking wet from the rain, was wearing different clothes and appeared nervous.

Investigators later showed her still images pulled from the Milwaukee County Transit System bus cameras. She identified her son as the person who shot Bowen.

Police then searched her vehicle. They recovered a .40-caliber cartridge from the rear floorboard that matched the brand and caliber of the casings found at the crime scene, according to the complaint.

Prosecutors filed the charge on Friday, Sept. 25, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Stokes was not in custody at the time of the announcement.

Camron Bowen had turned 16 three days earlier

Bowen grew up on Milwaukee's south side and had turned 16 three days before he was killed. He played basketball, loved video games and anime, and was good with technology. His family said he wanted to go to college to study tech.

"He had a whole future for himself. I feel like he was robbed," Cassidy told reporters the day after the shooting.

She described the moment she learned what happened. "My heart dropped out of my throat. It was the worst call of my life, the worst feeling in the world, like my whole world shattered," she said.

"My son had a big heart and he always loved everybody," Cassidy said. "He went hard for his loved ones, he never let anyone mess with them. My son was a good-hearted, happy, funny, goofy child."

Bowen's aunt Kayla Evans said the city she grew up in has changed. She said she was born and raised in Milwaukee and remembers playing outside until the street lights came on without hearing gunshots.

A vigil, a walk, and a family waiting on an arrest

Family and friends held a vigil the day after the shooting, then gathered again the following Saturday for a walk in Bowen's honor. They called for justice and an end to gun violence. A GoFundMe was set up to help the family cover funeral costs.

Bowen's aunt Nicole Cassidy said the family will never see him graduate. "We don't get to see him walk across a stage and graduate. It is not right to us," she said.

Jennifer Cassidy said learning the name of the person police are looking for brought a measure of relief and nothing close to peace. "I'm happy that I know who it is. I'm happy that I know it was exactly what I suspected," she said. "It is just hard because he is not caught yet. I just don't want this happening to anybody else."

She has also said she feels sympathy for the suspect's mother, and has urged parents to keep guns away from their children and teach them about gun safety.

At the memorial for her son, she questioned how teenagers are getting firearms at all. "I feel like these kids need to put these guns down. You don't even have a driver's license yet. Why do you have a gun?" she said.

The warrant is still open

Stokes remains wanted. Cassidy has directly asked him to surrender: "I just want this child to turn himself in, that is it," she said. "Just hold yourself accountable because you're not going to get far. They are going to find you."

She has framed the search as something the adults around him can end. "All I am asking for is to get your child to hold himself accountable," she said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Milwaukee Police Department or Milwaukee Crime Stoppers.

The case as prosecutors have laid it out is short and specific: a fight at school on Sept. 16, a bus ride on Sept. 19 with two boys sitting near each other in the back, an argument caught on camera, and a shooting outside the rear door that left a 16-year-old dead on Layton Boulevard.

Stokes has been charged, not convicted, and the allegations against him come from the criminal complaint. He is entitled to a defense, and none of the accusations have been tested in court because he has not yet been arrested.

Cassidy said she intends to keep talking about her son until something changes. "Gun violence has to change and I am going to make sure my son is heard. I am his voice now," she said. "Bullying and gun violence is going to get changed as long as I have something to do with it."