The victims included a mother reportedly leaving a relationship, a friend who tried to help and a Navy veteran killed later that night.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Before their names became part of a seven-count criminal case, Vanessa DeHerrera was raising two boys, Scott Bucholz was a close friend who relatives said stepped in to help her, and Shamarla “Asir” Hare was a Navy veteran and mother. All three were killed on Aug. 8 in two Milwaukee shootings that prosecutors now allege were committed by DeHerrera’s former boyfriend, Thomas Zollicoffer.
The prosecution has its roots in what DeHerrera’s family described as an effort to leave an on-again, off-again relationship. Authorities say that domestic conflict spread beyond the couple and left three people dead in less than half an hour. Zollicoffer, 36, is charged with three counts of first-degree intentional homicide and four counts of possession of a firearm by a felon. He has pleaded not guilty. A court commissioner found enough evidence at a preliminary hearing to send the case toward trial, and subsequent court proceedings have left Zollicoffer jailed on $1 million bail. His trial is scheduled for November, with the allegations still unproven.
DeHerrera, 26, had been staying at an apartment near 21st and Pierce streets when Zollicoffer arrived on Aug. 8, according to the criminal complaint. A woman who lived there told police that DeHerrera was in the process of separating from him. The witness said an argument began during the afternoon and continued as the day went on. At one point, investigators were told, Zollicoffer handed DeHerrera a gun. She later returned it when he indicated he was leaving. Instead, according to the witness account summarized by authorities, he stayed and continued drinking. The significance of that sequence became clear hours later, when gunfire inside the apartment left DeHerrera and Bucholz dead and sent others in the home scrambling for cover.
Bucholz, 29, was not simply a second name in the apartment, according to people who knew him. Family members told local reporters that he was DeHerrera’s friend and had been trying to intervene in the dispute. A witness cited in the complaint said Zollicoffer pointed a handgun at DeHerrera before firing and then turned the weapon toward others nearby. Police were called shortly before 10 p.m. Officers found DeHerrera and Bucholz with fatal gunshot wounds and recovered six 9 mm casings. Several other people were still inside, some of whom had taken shelter in a bedroom after the shooting. Their statements would become central to investigators’ reconstruction of what occurred.
Hare, 39, was miles away when the first shooting occurred. Within roughly half an hour, however, prosecutors say she became the third person killed in the same chain of events. Witnesses at a home near 39th Street and Townsend Avenue told investigators that Zollicoffer arrived and asked to speak with people inside. The complaint alleges that he approached Hare, grabbed her and produced a handgun. One witness said Zollicoffer told Hare, “I can’t stand you anyways,” before shooting her. Another shot followed, according to the allegations. Hare was taken to a hospital but died. Investigators recovered two 9 mm cartridge casings at that scene.
Hare’s family remembered a life that had little to do with the violence that brought police to the home. Relatives told local reporters she had served in the U.S. Navy after joining the military following high school. Her uncle described her as a mother of two and someone whose presence was deeply important to the family. Early public accounts left open a basic question: why had she been drawn into events that police said began with a domestic dispute somewhere else? The criminal complaint described what witnesses said happened inside the home, but it did not establish a clear relationship between Hare and Zollicoffer. Responsible reporting on the case has therefore treated that relationship as uncertain rather than supplying a motive that investigators have not established.
Police initially confronted two different homicide scenes and three victims. By Aug. 10, the Milwaukee Police Department publicly confirmed that the killings were connected and said investigators were searching for a single known suspect. Witnesses outside the Pierce Street apartment had reported seeing a man leave after the gunfire and get into a white sedan. Investigators gathered accounts from surviving witnesses at both residences while officers looked for the person they believed was responsible. The search ended Aug. 11 near 84th Street and Fiebrantz Avenue, where police surrounded a home and brought in tactical personnel and crisis negotiators. After about an hour, officers took Zollicoffer into custody.
Authorities said two loaded firearms were recovered during the arrest. The criminal complaint says that after receiving a Miranda warning, Zollicoffer made statements concerning the deaths. Investigators said he told them that he had not intended to kill DeHerrera when he went to see her but that he later “lost it.” Authorities also said he acknowledged shooting Bucholz and Hare. Those reported statements are part of the prosecution’s evidence, not judicial findings of guilt. During an Aug. 24 preliminary hearing, a Milwaukee homicide detective testified that Zollicoffer initially gave a different account of DeHerrera’s shooting before changing his statement and accepting responsibility for all three shootings.
For the victims’ relatives, the criminal proceedings have provided a public setting for grief that began long before the case reached a trial calendar. Family members of DeHerrera, Bucholz and Hare attended the preliminary hearing. Local television reports described sobbing from relatives as a detective recounted evidence and witness statements. Some family members shouted at Zollicoffer as he left the courtroom. The court commissioner did not decide whether he was guilty. The preliminary hearing had the narrower purpose of determining whether prosecutors had shown probable cause for the felony case to continue, and the commissioner ruled that they had.
The case has also focused attention locally on the domestic-violence circumstances described by DeHerrera’s family and in charging documents. Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service reported that advocates cited the deaths while discussing the heightened danger firearms can pose in abusive relationships. That broader discussion does not establish what happened in this individual case, and Zollicoffer retains the presumption of innocence. What the complaint alleges more specifically is that DeHerrera was attempting to leave the relationship, that Zollicoffer had access to a firearm during the dispute and that Bucholz was killed while present with her. Those facts, if proven, will be among the central parts of the state’s case.
Separate prosecutions involve two people accused of assisting Zollicoffer after the shootings. Authorities allege that Sengchanh Phengphonsavanh drove him after the Pierce Street killings and later charged Phengphonsavanh with harboring or aiding a felon. Prosecutors also charged Elena Cole, identified in news reports as Zollicoffer’s cousin, with harboring or aiding a felon and three counts of child neglect. The complaint against Cole alleges that Zollicoffer stayed at her home after telling her he had killed people while her children were present. Those allegations are being handled in proceedings distinct from Zollicoffer’s homicide case.
Later court filings raised another concern unrelated to proving who fired the fatal shots. Prosecutors alleged Zollicoffer used a jail-issued electronic device after his arrest to communicate about a witness in the case. They cited a message telling another person to urge a witness to “stop lying” and language prosecutors considered threatening. Judge David Borowski responded by sharply restricting Zollicoffer’s ability to communicate from jail except as necessary with his lawyers. The restriction was designed to protect the court process and witnesses; it did not determine the truth of the original homicide accusations.
On Sept. 8, Borowski rejected Zollicoffer’s request for a different judge because the court found the filing untimely. Zollicoffer has pleaded not guilty and remained jailed on $1 million bail. A final pretrial hearing was scheduled for Oct. 8, and the trial was set for November. Until a plea or verdict resolves the case, the charging documents and witness accounts remain allegations. For the families of DeHerrera, Bucholz and Hare, however, the deaths themselves are not allegations: three lives ended in one night, and the court process will determine criminal responsibility.
Author note: Last updated September 28, 2026.