Morales and Mercado facing up to 80 years in prison for Henderson's homicide in Milwaukee's southside.
By H. Nelson Goodson
September 18, 2013
Milwaukee, WI - On Tuesday, both Gill Roberto Morales, 21, and Miguel A. Mercado, 18, were charged with 1st-degree reckless homicide and 1st-degree reckless endangering safety for the September 8th death of Jordan Henderson, 19. If convicted, both Morales and Mercado are facing up to 80 years in prison each. A cash bail of $300,000 was set for each suspect.
Henderson was fatally shot in the head while in a vehicle at the 1900 block of W. Mitchell St. The vehicle stopped at a short distance when it crashed into several cars, according to the complaint.
The criminal complaint states, that Henderson was driving along Mitchell Street with his 17-year-old cousin and uncle when he spotted both Morales and Mercado riding bicycles and noticed they had a BMX bicycle that had been stolen from a family member on Labor Day. Henderson made a u-turn and before he could get out of the vehicle Morales fired his .22-caliber revolver handgun striking Henderson in the head once and fired again striking the 17-year-old in the shoulder twice.
The suspects then fled and met up at Morales house. They were taken into custody by police four days later.
Court records indicate that Morales was on probation for three years for a felony conviction for burglary of dwelling. He pleaded guilty on June 27, 2012 and was sentenced to four years in jail and three years probation. The jail term was stayed and he was ordered to do 30 hours of community service for each year he received in the conviction. As a convicted felon, Morales was prohibited from possessing a firearm.
