Michael T. Jackson was killed on his son’s birthday in an attack prosecutors now link to a dispute over a missing Jeep.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Michael T. Jackson arrived at a food truck on Milwaukee’s Near West Side during the early hours of Aug. 28 and stopped to talk with a friend who was working there. Minutes later, Jackson was dead and his friend was wounded after gunfire came from a car beside them.
The killing initially left Jackson’s family and the surrounding neighborhood with basic questions about who had opened fire and why. Police said only that someone inside a vehicle had shot two men near North 27th and West Walnut streets. Nearly two weeks later, prosecutors charged Lexus Ford, 34, after investigators said they connected him to the shooting through surveillance video, vehicle records and witness interviews. The criminal complaint alleges that Ford believed Jackson had been involved in taking Ford’s Jeep and property inside it earlier that night. Ford is presumed innocent unless proved guilty.
Jackson, 39, was known to some as Mike Lee. Family members who spoke with CBS 58 after the shooting described him as a loving person, a good father and someone who felt more like a brother than simply a relative or friend. They also said the shooting happened on his son’s birthday. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office later confirmed Jackson’s identity. Those details emerged before police had publicly identified a suspect or explained the dispute that prosecutors would later describe in court records.
The surviving victim told detectives he had been working at the food truck when Jackson came by and the two began talking, according to the criminal complaint. They eventually started walking toward Jackson’s vehicle. The worker said a sedan pulled up next to them. He believed it was gray. The passenger-side window opened, and he heard about seven or eight gunshots before the car sped away. Only afterward did the worker realize he had also been hit. He suffered two wounds to his lower body and was taken to a hospital.
Police arrived at about 3:45 a.m. and found Jackson suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at about 4:15 a.m., according to reporting based on the complaint. Investigators recovered 19 spent 9 mm cartridge casings, suggesting more shots had been fired than the surviving victim could count during the sudden attack. Early television footage showed officers working around the intersection near the truck while family members gathered and tried to understand what had happened.
At that stage, police publicly described the circumstances as under investigation. WISN reported on the day of the killing that no arrests had been announced and that authorities had not said what led to the gunfire. The station also reported that the second victim’s injuries were not considered life-threatening. For Jackson’s family, the immediate fact was simpler and permanent: the 39-year-old had been killed in the street during what appeared, from the outside, to be an unexplained burst of violence.
The explanation alleged by prosecutors came later and began earlier in the night. According to the complaint, Ford told detectives that he had been selling liquor from his Jeep and lost his key fob. Ford believed Jackson took the fob, investigators said. Accounts of Ford’s police interview say he later located the Jeep a short distance away and found people removing property from it. He identified Jackson as one of the people he believed was involved and told investigators that he became intensely angry over what he saw.
Ford’s claim is an allegation within the criminal case, not an established finding about Jackson. Public reporting reviewed for this article does not show that Jackson was charged with stealing Ford’s Jeep, taking the key fob or removing Ford’s belongings. The distinction is central to the case: prosecutors say Ford’s belief about the Jeep and its contents explains what happened before the shooting, while the homicide charges concern what Ford allegedly did afterward. Any disputed account of the theft remains subject to evidence and court proceedings.
Investigators say the shooting vehicle left behind a different type of trail. Surveillance footage showed a Ford Focus circling the area before the attack, according to the complaint. Police described the vehicle as a tan 2005-to-2007 model with a black rear bumper and temporary plate. License-plate reader information helped detectives identify the car. Records showed the Focus belonged to Ford and had previously been driven by his brother, who was in custody by the time Jackson was killed.
Police then obtained statements that prosecutors say connected the suspected motive with the shooting. Ford’s former girlfriend told detectives that he contacted her after recovering his Jeep and appeared distressed. According to the complaint, he indicated that he had shot and hurt someone, acknowledged that the person had died and discussed leaving. Investigators also cited a jail call involving Ford’s brother and the former girlfriend in which the earlier loss of the Jeep and property inside it was discussed. Those statements are part of the prosecution’s evidence and have not yet been evaluated at trial.
The complaint says Ford later spoke directly with detectives in a recorded or formal police interview after being advised of his rights. He described losing the key fob and locating the Jeep nearby. Other reports based on the complaint say Ford told investigators a firearm was among the property in or taken from the vehicle. He identified Jackson in a photograph and connected him to the dispute. Ford did not, in the public accounts reviewed, provide a courtroom-tested version of the shooting itself, and prosecutors still carry the burden of proving their allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.
The surviving food-truck worker occupies an unusual position in the case. He was both a witness to the moments immediately before the gunfire and a victim of it. His account helped establish the timing, location and basic description of the car that approached. Yet he apparently did not tell police that he recognized the shooter at the moment shots were fired. Investigators instead worked outward from his description, the cartridge casings and the video evidence until they reached the Focus and, eventually, Ford.
Ford was charged with first-degree reckless homicide with use of a dangerous weapon, first-degree reckless injury with use of a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. First-degree reckless homicide in Wisconsin is distinct from an intentional-homicide charge; the specific elements and evidence still must be proved in court. Reports on the case also say Ford was on bail in an unrelated Waukesha County drug prosecution when Jackson was killed. That pending matter is separate from the homicide allegations.
At an initial court appearance Sept. 10, a judge set Ford’s cash bond at $250,000. FOX6 reported that a bond hearing and preliminary hearing were scheduled for the following week. The court process marked a shift from the uncertainty that surrounded the intersection on Aug. 28 to a prosecution centered on one defendant, one alleged vehicle and a theory that anger over a missing Jeep preceded the shooting.
For Jackson’s family, however, the criminal case does not change the outcome of that morning. Their earliest public statements focused not on surveillance cameras, license plates or the alleged theft dispute, but on the person they had lost. The prosecution now must determine in court whether the evidence gathered after Jackson’s death is sufficient to hold Ford criminally responsible. No later final disposition was located in the public reporting reviewed for this article, and the charges remain allegations.
Author note: Last updated October 21, 2026.