Milwaukee mother of 8 was shot and killed after dropping kids off at school

Antoine Buchanan-Timmons remembers spending his mornings in childhood talking to his mother before the school bus came.

What he can recall from those conversations is that his mother, Lakeyshia Timmons, would tell him she loved him and she’d see him when he got home from class.

That’s what he assumes she told his younger siblings, and some of her grandkids, as she dropped them off at school Monday — seven in total.

“She was the best mother in the world,” Buchanan-Timmons said. “Hard worker. That’s what she did. She devoted her life to her kids.”

Timmons didn't get to see those kids again. She was shot and killed near her home Monday morning after returning from the trip to school, an act that has robbed a Milwaukee family of a matriarch who raised her eight kids by herself, helped raise nine grandchildren and cared for others, too.

Her family on Tuesday lauded their sister, daughter and mother as a rock in the family who would take kids on vacations to Wisconsin Dells, surprise her mother with balloons on her birthday and treat her siblings to nights out in Oshkosh.

“I miss her so much,” said Timmons’ mother, Latanilia Timmons. “I just hate that this happened.”

The shooting was reported around 7:35 a.m. Monday outside Timmons’ home on the 2700 block of North 18th Street. A 52-year-old man was arrested.

Police said it was related to an argument. Lakeyshia Timmons’ family said it involved custody of her youngest children. She has four adult children and four others ages 3 to 12.

“She was a good person,” her brother, Willie Timmons, said. “She took care of her kids and she took of the people around her, too.”

Lakeyshia Timmons is the 24th homicide victim this year in Milwaukee. But more than three months into 2024, gun violence has continued to slow, with homicides down 37% and nonfatal shootings 27% from the year before. In 2023, homicides dropped 20%, while nonfatal shootings fell 4%.

Milwaukee and Wisconsin have had an increase in domestic violence since 2020. In 2022, the state broke its record for domestic-violence deaths with 96, according to a report from End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin.

The same report outlined how a 70% drop in federal funding in 2024 would stress shelters in staying open, keeping hotlines staffed and having advocates available to help victims.

Locally, however, as of mid-December, domestic violence-related homicides in Milwaukee County appeared to have fallen from 41 in 2022 to 31 in 2023, according to the Sojourner Family Peace Center, the largest service provider for domestic violence victims in Wisconsin.

Carmen Pitre, the president of the organization, attributed the drop to expanded intervention services as a result of a $1 million grant from the state government.

How to contact police with information about Lakeyshia Timmons' death

Anyone with information about Timmons' homicide is asked to contact Milwaukee police at 414-935-7360, or to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 414-224-Tips or use the P3 Tips app.

Where to find help for domestic violence in Milwaukee

Our Peaceful Home, which serves Muslim families and is a program of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition, operates a crisis line at (414) 727-1090.

The Hmong American Women’s Association, which serves the Hmong and southeast Asian community, has advocates available at (414) 930-9352 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The Asha Project, which serves African American women in Milwaukee, provides a crisis line from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at (414) 252-0075.

The UMOS Latina Resource Center in Milwaukee offers bilingual, bicultural, domestic violence, sexual assault and anti-human trafficking supportive services and operates a 24-hour hotline at (414) 389-6510.

The Sojourner Family Peace Center in Milwaukee operates a 24-hour confidential hotline at (414) 933-2722.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800-799-7233.

Other resources

Milwaukee's Office of Violence Prevention recommends these resources for free support:

414Life outreach and conflict mediation support: 414-439-5525.

Milwaukee County's 24-Hour Mental Health Crisis Line: 414-257-7222.

Milwaukee's Child Mobile Crisis and Trauma Response Team: 414-257-7621.

National crisis text line: Text HOPELINE to 741741 to text with a trained crisis counselor.

Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 or chat at988lifeline.org.

Contact Elliot Hughes at [email protected] or 414-704-8958. Follow him on Twitter @elliothughes12.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee mother of 8 shot, killed after dropping kids off at school