A criminal complaint describes an argument, missed gunfire, a struggle and a final confrontation with housemate Bryan Schuller.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The first shots described by witnesses did not hit anyone. Minutes later, another burst of gunfire came from a bedroom, where police would find 41-year-old Bryan Schuller dead. A criminal complaint in Milwaukee County traces the Sept. 7 violence through several rooms of a home near North 37th and Brown streets and accuses 34-year-old Wilson Jackson of causing it.
The prosecution’s public account depends heavily on what two people inside the residence told investigators during and after the emergency. One was Jackson’s former girlfriend, who called 911. The other was Jackson’s half brother, identified in some reports on the complaint by the initials M.D.W. Together, their statements describe how a gathering at the house deteriorated after Jackson allegedly read messages on a phone, became angry about a suspected relationship and began handling firearms. Prosecutors have charged Jackson with six felonies, including first-degree reckless homicide in Schuller’s death. The allegations have not been proven in court.
Police initially released far less information. Officers were sent to the area of North 37th Street and West Brown Street at about 9:15 p.m. on Sept. 7 after a report of a shooting. They found Schuller inside the home with fatal gunshot wounds and said a known suspect was being sought. Two days later, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office publicly identified Schuller. Early police reporting said an argument had occurred before the shooting, but it was only after prosecutors filed charges that a more detailed account of the evening became public through reporting on the criminal complaint.
According to those accounts, Jackson had previously lived at the home with the woman who later called 911. She told investigators they had broken up about a month before the shooting and Jackson had moved out. Schuller and Jackson’s half brother were staying there. Jackson returned on Sept. 7 for a practical reason: a pear tree had fallen against the house, and he was there to cut it down. Witnesses said Jackson, Schuller and the half brother drank alcohol beginning around 4:30 or 5 p.m. Nothing in the reports indicates that Schuller was the focus of a dispute at that stage.
The evening changed after Jackson left for roughly an hour, witnesses said. The people remaining at the house ordered food. Jackson returned at about 9 p.m. and went into his former girlfriend’s bedroom. There, according to the complaint, he looked through her phone and saw text messages exchanged with his half brother. Witnesses said Jackson became upset and accused the two of having a sexual relationship. Whether that accusation was true is not established in the public reporting and is not necessary to the homicide allegation. What matters to the prosecution’s chronology is what witnesses say Jackson did next.
The former girlfriend told police Jackson pointed a handgun at her and fired two or three shots. The half brother gave investigators a more detailed account of the weapons. He said one handgun in the house belonged to him and had been left on a table. When he saw Jackson with it, he took it away, according to the complaint. He said Jackson nevertheless had another handgun and fired in the direction of him and the woman from a short distance. Neither person was hit. The half brother told police he thought Jackson was trying to frighten them. Prosecutors responded to the alleged conduct with two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety.
The half brother then fought with Jackson, according to his statement. The struggle moved into a bedroom as he tried to control the situation. His account says Jackson eventually agreed not to shoot him. That moment could have ended the confrontation, but witnesses say Jackson instead turned his attention to Schuller. The complaint places Schuller apart from the original dispute: he was in his own bedroom, on his bed, eating the food that had been ordered while Jackson was away. He had not been identified as the sender or recipient of the messages that allegedly triggered Jackson’s anger.
The witnesses followed as Jackson entered Schuller’s room. Reports on the criminal complaint give two closely related versions of the words attributed to Jackson. In one, he asked Schuller whether he had known what was “going on.” In another, Jackson said, “So you did know.” Schuller denied involvement, according to both accounts. The former girlfriend said she then heard another two or three shots. Prosecutors allege Jackson fired at Schuller and left the house. The complaint does not portray Schuller as physically attacking Jackson or joining the earlier struggle before he was shot.
What happened immediately afterward is described in simpler terms. Jackson’s half brother went to Schuller and tried to help him. The former girlfriend called 911. Police and emergency personnel arrived, but Schuller was pronounced dead at the scene. Later reporting said he had suffered gunshot wounds to the head and chest. Because the case concerns a pending prosecution, those details come from official or complaint-based accounts rather than findings made after a trial. Jackson has not been convicted of Schuller’s death.
Investigators did not take Jackson into custody at the house. Police spent the days after the shooting looking for the known suspect they had referenced publicly. A warrant was issued, and Jackson was arrested later in September. He appeared in court on Sept. 22, where a commissioner set a $1 million cash bond. The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office charged him with first-degree reckless homicide, two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, two felon-in-possession counts and felony bail jumping.
The final three counts arise from Jackson’s legal status before the Sept. 7 shooting. Court records cited by local outlets say he had a 2010 burglary conviction that barred him from possessing a firearm. He also had a pending felony gun-possession case filed in May 2026. Jackson was released in that case on a $5,000 signature bond, with a condition barring him from possessing dangerous weapons or firearms. Prosecutors allege his possession of guns during the confrontation both violated the law applicable to a convicted felon and broke the terms of his pretrial release.
The witness-centered chronology is important because the shooting did not emerge as one continuous confrontation between Jackson and Schuller. The complaint instead describes several stages: an argument involving Jackson, his former girlfriend and his half brother; gunfire that missed the first two alleged targets; a physical fight; an apparent promise not to shoot the half brother; and only then an encounter with Schuller. That progression is the prosecution’s account, not a judicial finding, but it explains why the case contains separate endangerment charges alongside the homicide count.
It also explains why the detail that Schuller was eating when confronted has appeared prominently in reporting. The food itself has no stated legal significance. Its relevance is that witnesses described Schuller as sitting in his room, engaged in an ordinary activity and denying responsibility for the issue Jackson raised with him. Prosecutors allege the dispute had already moved beyond the two people Jackson initially confronted by the time he reached Schuller’s bedroom.
Reports from September said Jackson’s next scheduled court date was Oct. 1. No reliable source reviewed for this article established a subsequent conviction, acquittal, plea or other final resolution. The case therefore remains described through the charging allegations and witness accounts made public in reporting on the complaint. Those accounts will be subject to the normal court process, where prosecutors bear the burden of proving the charges and Jackson may challenge the evidence against him.
Author note: Last updated Nov. 8, 2026.