Investigators used ballistics, phone records, surveillance video and witness accounts to connect two shooting scenes and track a homicide suspect.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Evidence collected from two Milwaukee homicide scenes, including matching ballistics, cellphone information and video of a suspected getaway vehicle, helped investigators connect three killings and pursue a suspect until a police standoff ended a dayslong manhunt.
Thomas Seville Zollicoffer, 36, was arrested Aug. 11 and later charged with three counts of first-degree intentional homicide and three counts of possession of a firearm by a felon. Prosecutors accuse him of killing Vanessa DeHerrera, 26, Scott Bucholz, 29, and Shamarla Hare, 39, during shootings at two locations on the night of Aug. 8. The charges remain allegations and must be proven in court.
The investigation began near 21st and Pierce streets, where police were called to the Knitting Factory Lofts at about 9:45 p.m. Court filings say witnesses described an argument involving Zollicoffer and DeHerrera before gunfire erupted inside an apartment. DeHerrera and Bucholz were fatally wounded there. Witness statements gave detectives an early identification of the man they believed had fired the shots.
Roughly 20 minutes later, officers were sent to another shooting about four miles away near 39th and Townsend streets. Hare was found critically wounded inside a home and later died during surgery. A witness at that scene also identified Zollicoffer to investigators, according to court records, giving police accounts from separate locations that pointed toward the same person.
The physical evidence strengthened that connection. Court filings say ballistics recovered at both scenes were matched to the same gun. Investigators also sought emergency cellphone records and location information. Those records placed Zollicoffer’s phone in the areas of both homicide scenes around the time the shootings occurred, according to the filings.
A vehicle became another piece of the investigation. Witnesses at both scenes described an older-model, light-colored midsize sedan associated with the suspect. Surveillance video near the second shooting showed a person arriving in a vehicle, entering Hare’s home and leaving a little more than two minutes later. Investigators also reviewed information from a license-plate camera that captured a vehicle matching the description shortly after the first shooting.
Police eventually located the sedan outside the home of a 47-year-old man in Milwaukee’s Merrill Park neighborhood. Court filings say the man told investigators he had picked up Zollicoffer from the Pierce Street apartment building, driven him to the area of 39th and Townsend and later taken him to apartments near 74th Street and Silver Spring Drive. The man had not been charged in connection with the killings in the reporting reviewed for this article.
The search continued for more than two days. Shortly after noon Aug. 11, Milwaukee police surrounded a home near 84th Street and Fiebrantz Avenue after receiving information that the wanted suspect was inside. Police said attempts to contact him were unsuccessful and that he barricaded himself in the house, leading officers to call tactical teams and crisis negotiators.
Authorities said the standoff lasted about an hour. Court filings say two loaded firearms were thrown from the residence before Zollicoffer came outside. Police video from the scene showed officers communicating with him before a flash-bang device was deployed and officers moved in to take him into custody. No additional deaths were reported during the standoff.
Investigators later questioned Zollicoffer. According to the criminal complaint, he initially gave an account that blamed Bucholz for the shooting of DeHerrera but later changed his account and acknowledged shooting people at both locations. Those statements are part of the prosecution’s allegations and will be subject to the normal evidentiary process as the criminal case moves forward.
The charges filed after the arrest bring together evidence gathered across several Milwaukee neighborhoods over three days. The prosecution’s case now rests not on a single investigative lead but on a combination of witness accounts, firearm evidence, electronic records, surveillance footage, vehicle information and statements described in court filings. Zollicoffer is presumed innocent unless and until he is convicted.
Author note: Last updated August 15, 2026.