Milwaukee man charged with killing security guard, injuring two others, outside of Eve Lounge

A 28-year-old Milwaukee man has been criminally charged, accused of shooting and killing a security guard, and injuring two others, at a club on the city's northwest side.

The incident happened shortly after midnight Jan. 28 outside of Eve Lounge, 6222 W. Fond du Lac Ave.

Andre A. Gregory, 26, of Milwaukee was killed in the shooting. He had been working the club off and on for about a year, according to the establishment's owner.

Prosecutors charged Trevante Young of Milwaukee on Monday with first-degree reckless homicide, two counts of first-degree reckless injury, and possession of a firearm by a felon. He is not in custody.

According to a criminal complaint:

The incident began as a fight inside the club that led to the shooting outside of the club.

Gregory and owner, Thomas Holmes, asked two groups of men to leave following an argument. Holmes told detectives that the men started fist fighting once outside and then suddenly shots rang out.

Surveillance footage from nearby businesses, including the Diamond Inn Motel, which is connected to the club, shows a man in a black, hooded sweatshirt firing shots.

One of the other two victims in the shooting told detectives that he returned fire. That victim also identified the man in the black hoodie as the shooter after reviewing surveillance footage from inside the club and Young's parole officer identified him on the surveillance footage.

Gregory was 'loved by everyone'

Gregory was hired through a contractor, Holmes told the Journal Sentinel in January.

Gregory's sister set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral expenses and wrote that her brother was “loved by everyone that had the pleasure of knowing him.”

According to social media posts from friends, he attended Vincent High School.

The shooting caused reaction from alderman

Eve Lounge had its license suspended 20 days last year out of safety concerns. Ald. Mark Chambers voted to suspend the license. He called the shooting a "terrible situation."

“The bar did exactly what it was supposed to do. They ejected the gentlemen out the club," he said.

Eve Lounge came under scrutiny last year with the city’s Licenses Committee, which Chambers sits on, but also received support and words of confidence from community members who spoke at the hearing and from Chambers himself.

The main issue during that June hearing was an incident in February 2023, in which an employee shot another man who rented space in the club’s kitchen.

According to police records, none of the other six employees reported the incident to police. And when officers did arrive, employees were cleaning the place and did not appear to be forthcoming about what happened. Holmes was not on site during the incident.

Chambers compared the January shooting to one in 2022, where a worker was shot and killed after a man was denied entry to a downtown club, and to a 2023 shooting, where five people were injured outside of a northwest side bar.

"It’s not entirely on the owner," he said. "People make decisions.”

Holmes argued there are just too many people carrying guns and not enough of them are considering the lives of others.

“It hasn’t just happened in my establishment. It happens everywhere,” he said. “People need to think and start being more respectful of other people and stop this gun violence. It’s out of control. You go up and down the street and I guarantee you it’s eight out of 10 cars that got guns in them. A lot of it is illegal, but that’s just the way things are now.”

Elliot Hughes of the Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.