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Background: The section of North 47th Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the shooting occurred (Google Maps). Inset left: Brandon Smith (Milwaukee County Sheriff”s Office). Inset right: Justin Smith (Informed Choice Funeral Home).
A Wisconsin jury has convicted a man of shooting and killing his brother, driven by the belief that the victim was involved with the suspect’s wife and intended to harm him.
Brandon Smith, aged 51, was found guilty of first-degree reckless homicide for the death of his 41-year-old brother, Justin Smith, as reported by Milwaukee’s Fox affiliate, WITI. Initially, he faced charges of first-degree intentional homicide.
The incident occurred in the early hours of February 26, 2025, at their mother’s residence on the 4900 block of North 47th Street in Milwaukee, as detailed in a criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime. Brandon Smith had been residing there since September, following his divorce.
Their mother expressed concerns that her older son had become increasingly paranoid and was displaying signs of mental health issues. She noted he rarely left the house and was unemployed. According to her, Brandon was convinced that Justin was romantically involved with his ex-wife, though she insisted this was not the case.
The affidavit reveals that Brandon believed his brother was tracking him through his phone and had intentions to kill him. He also suspected Justin had invited another man to their home to attack him, despite admitting he never saw anyone else present.
At about 4 a.m. on Feb. 26, 2025, the defendant accused his brother of having a man over in order to harm him. Justin Smith “remained in his own room and would not engage in the argument,” said the mother, who added that no one other than the three of them was in the house.
Still, Brandon Smith was “agitated” and called the police. Officers arrived and then left, but the argument between the brothers did not end.
The mother “had to break them up to go to their respective bedrooms,” a detective wrote in the complaint. But Brandon Smith said he “still did not feel safe” so he started “patrolling” the home by walking up and down the stairs.
At the time, the mother was in the living room. She said she heard her elder son “saying he believed people were out to kill him,” but he returned up the stairs, and she fell asleep.
The defendant claimed he could hear Justin Smith and another man on the phone and believed his brother “was determined” to hurt him, so he “grabbed the first thing he saw in the kitchen, a hammer, and confronted the victim in the kitchen.”
The mother awoke to “the victim screaming.” When she rose, she saw the two brothers fighting on the ground, with Brandon Smith on top and his younger brother “bleeding from the head.”
Brandon Smith had hit his younger brother twice in the head with the hammer, the complaint said. The mother rushed to break them up and grabbed the hammer as Justin Smith went into his bedroom, per the court document.
The defendant then “retrieved his handgun” and shot his younger brother in the chest, according to the complaint. The defendant told investigators that he saw Justin Smith fall to the ground. According to the complaint, the boys’ mother came into the bedroom and started screaming and trying to help her younger son, but Brandon Smith reportedly “would not let her go.”
As the complaint states, Brandon Smith “felt like he still needed to protect himself.” He went to wash up but “refused” to let his mother call 911.
The mother eventually got the chance to call authorities. Brandon Smith reportedly ranted about the Bible, Cain and Abel, and how his brother and their neighbors wanted to kill him. He later told police that he and his brother “had never pulled guns on each other before.”
Police arrived at the home around 6:43 a.m. and spoke with the mother. As she walked an officer by a room where Brandon Smith was, she said, “this [is] the one that hurt the other one.” In another bedroom, the officer saw Justin Smith on the ground “surrounded by blood.”
Justin Smith was pronounced dead at the scene. He had “multiple blunt force injuries to his head and face, and his clothing was covered in blood.” An autopsy found that his cause of death was a gunshot wound to the chest.
The gun used in the shooting was recovered by police. Brandon Smith was arrested.
He is set to be sentenced on June 5.