Court records say the victim was shot in the back after a dispute that began when a food delivery came to the house.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — A woman accused of fatally shooting a man during an argument over delivered food inside a Milwaukee home now faces a first-degree intentional homicide charge in a case that police say began with a complaint that someone had taken the victim’s chicken order.
Authorities identified the dead man as 63-year-old Charley Collins and the defendant as Bonnie Blackwell, 41. Investigators say the shooting happened just after midnight Feb. 21 near North 22nd Street and West Locust Street. The case has drawn attention because prosecutors say the dispute began over a routine delivery and because the evidence described so far includes a witness account, scene evidence, statements Blackwell made to detectives and a recorded phone call in which she allegedly spoke about the shooting afterward.
The account in the criminal complaint begins with a food pickup at the door. A witness told detectives Collins went outside to get food from a delivery person and came back into the house. Once inside, the witness said, Blackwell confronted Collins and the two started arguing. The complaint says Collins put the food in a bedroom and then walked into the kitchen. At that point, according to the witness, Blackwell came out of her bedroom with a gun, yelled at Collins and fired one shot. Police were called to the home near 22nd and Locust at about 12:30 a.m. When officers arrived, they found Collins in the kitchen with a gunshot wound. He died despite life-saving efforts. What had started as a complaint over part of a meal order had become a homicide investigation before the night was over.
Blackwell later described the argument in terms that prosecutors say both explain and complicate her position. Detectives wrote that she told them Collins was upset and saying “somebody stole his chicken.” She said she looked outside and saw a Dr Pepper on the porch but no chicken. According to the complaint, Blackwell said Collins was “coming towards her in the hallway, aggressively calling her names,” and that she backed up before the gun went off. Yet prosecutors say she also admitted she shot him in the back as he was walking away. That detail may become one of the most important facts in the case. If the victim was turning away when he was shot, prosecutors can argue that the immediate threat had eased. Defense attorneys, if they challenge the charge, may focus on fear, confusion, intoxication if any evidence emerges, the speed of the encounter or the reliability of statements gathered after the fact. Publicly available records so far do not explain all of those points.
Physical evidence at the scene gave investigators a framework for the events inside the home. Police said they found a fired bullet near Collins’ feet and a spent casing in a hallway. Those placements, together with witness descriptions and the layout of the residence, are likely to matter as prosecutors work to establish where each person was standing and moving. The home setting can make cases like this especially fact-heavy because small movements from room to room can become central to the legal question of intent. There is also no public indication yet that Collins had a weapon, and authorities have not described any injuries to Blackwell that would suggest a prolonged physical struggle. That does not settle the issue, but it narrows the early public record. The broader context is also striking: the argument appears to have been rooted not in a long-running public dispute or random street confrontation, but in a fast-moving clash inside a shared space, tied to something as ordinary as a late-night food delivery.
The investigation expanded beyond the scene after detectives reviewed jail phone contacts involving Blackwell. According to the complaint, several inmates had called her, and one call on the day of the shooting drew particular attention. Prosecutors say the person on that call said, “I just shot somebody last night, and I think I killed him — I am going to be on the run,” before describing the shooting in detail. Blackwell was later arrested Feb. 24 at a mental health facility in West Allis. In addition to first-degree intentional homicide, she is charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Investigators also say she later sold the gun for $200, which could become an important part of the state’s effort to trace the weapon and show conduct after the shooting. Her initial appearance was set for Feb. 28. After that, the case would typically move into the early court phase, where judges and lawyers address custody status, counsel, the complaint, scheduling and the first steps of evidence exchange.
The story has traveled widely because it compresses several layers of violence into a few reported minutes: an argument over missing food, a gun drawn in a home, a man shot in the back and a statement afterward suggesting the shooter thought the victim might die. But the legal case will not turn on its shock value. It will turn on whether prosecutors can prove intent beyond a reasonable doubt, whether witness testimony holds up under challenge, whether the forensic evidence matches the narrative in the complaint and whether Blackwell’s statements are admitted and given weight by the court. Collins’ death, meanwhile, remains the fixed fact at the center of the proceeding. He went to the door for a delivery, according to the complaint, and was dead in the kitchen minutes later. Everything that comes next in court will be measured against that sequence.
Blackwell remained the defendant in a Milwaukee County homicide case, as of reporting, and Collins remained the identified victim. The next concrete checkpoint was the scheduled Feb. 28 court appearance, where prosecutors were expected to begin outlining the case in open court.
Author note: Last updated March 26, 2026.