Kiera Hennings survived serious wounds but said the aftermath left her fearful at the same duplex where the dispute began.
MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — Weeks after she was stabbed during a confrontation outside the duplex she shared with another family, Kiera Hennings said her most immediate problem was no longer the hospital. It was going home. The 35-year-old Milwaukee mother told FOX6 that she remained afraid at the North Long Island Drive residence, where a neighbor dispute on Aug. 19 ended with two stab wounds, major surgery and a criminal charge against downstairs neighbor Tawanna Gant.
Hennings’ fear after the attack adds another layer to a case that began as a conflict between people living behind the same exterior door. She told FOX6 she did not want others to know she had returned to the duplex. The station reported that Milwaukee police were still looking for additional known suspects, while Hennings said more than one person had stabbed her. She also said she asked the property manager about changing locks or moving but was told the locks could not be changed and that she had not lived in the unit long enough for a transfer. FOX6 said Berrada Properties did not respond before its report was published.
The housing concern came after a hospitalization that lasted nearly two weeks, according to FOX6. Hennings said one stab wound contributed to a collapsed lung and another injury left her liver bleeding, and she underwent two major surgeries. Law&Crime, citing a criminal complaint, reported that she had wounds to her chest and abdomen. The complaint says police found her shortly after 8:30 p.m. wrapped in a sheet and in severe distress. Hennings identified Gant as the person who stabbed her when an officer asked who was responsible, according to the complaint summarized by the outlet.
The sheet around Hennings had been brought by her 9-year-old son, she later told FOX6. Hennings said she asked the child to get it while she waited for paramedics and credited the quick response with helping her survive. Her brother had carried her back into the upstairs apartment after realizing she had been stabbed, according to the reports. Hennings told the station that people involved in the confrontation then kicked the apartment door off its hinges. The details place children and relatives inside the immediate aftermath of an adult dispute that, according to police and prosecutors, had already turned violent twice that evening.
The conflict was not described as a sudden disagreement between strangers. Hennings said she had reported her neighbors as a nuisance about a month earlier and that an earlier physical altercation followed. The criminal complaint also points to tension before Hennings ever came downstairs on Aug. 19. Her brother told police he heard Gant threaten to beat Hennings as the siblings prepared to leave. The available reports do not provide a complete record of prior police contacts or explain the source of every disagreement between the households, but both the complaint and Hennings’ account indicate that the locked door occurred against an already strained relationship.
Hennings said she was preparing to go shopping when she accidentally locked the duplex’s shared front door. Gant had been outside with her dogs and was left unable to get back into the downstairs apartment, according to Law&Crime. Hennings and her brother remained upstairs for a time after hearing the alleged threat, then went downstairs when they thought they could safely leave. Police said Gant and four other people, including her 15-year-old son, were outside. Doorbell-camera footage obtained by FOX6 recorded an argument. Hennings said Gant approached her, grabbed her by the wig and attacked her, prompting Hennings to defend herself.
According to the complaint, the encounter broadened into a fight involving several people. Law&Crime reported that Gant, two of her sons and the girlfriend of one son allegedly participated. Hennings’ brother tried to pull his sister away, but the confrontation continued before the siblings eventually got back upstairs. The girlfriend of Hennings’ brother called police. That call should have marked the end of direct contact between the two groups, but the complaint describes a second encounter that prosecutors say became even more serious.
Seeing flashing lights outside, Hennings started downstairs to speak with police, according to the complaint. Before she reached the bottom, a male neighbor allegedly grabbed her and dragged her down the remaining stairs. A second fight began. Prosecutors allege that Gant stabbed Hennings during this phase of the confrontation. Hennings later told FOX6 she believed more than one person stabbed her, an assertion that helps explain why police said the investigation extended beyond the one person charged. The reporting reviewed does not identify every suspected participant or establish that each person present committed a crime.
Hennings also told FOX6 that her brother encountered a person with a gun during the violence and tried to wrestle with one of the people attacking her. She said he carried her inside after realizing she had been stabbed. No firearm charge was identified in the sources reviewed, and the reports do not say who allegedly had the weapon. That uncertainty illustrates a broader limitation in the public record: news accounts provide a detailed outline of the confrontation, but several important questions about individual roles, weapons and potential additional charges remained unresolved when police said they were still searching for known suspects.
Gant, 51, denied stabbing Hennings, according to the reports. Law&Crime said she admitted fighting with Hennings but blamed the stabbing on the girlfriend of one of her sons. FOX6, citing prosecutors, reported that Gant placed blame on her 15-year-old son. The station said the teenager initially told detectives that Hennings stabbed herself, then changed his story. Law&Crime separately reported that the teen offered to take responsibility for Gant. The varying accounts are allegations and investigative statements, not findings of guilt, and they underscore why the criminal case cannot be reduced to a single witness version.
Prosecutors charged Gant with first-degree reckless injury, and reports also described a dangerous-weapon allegation connected to the case. Law&Crime said Gant was held on $20,000 cash bond as of Sept. 3 and had a court date scheduled for Sept. 8. Those details reflected the case at the time of publication. The sources reviewed for this update did not establish the result of that hearing or a later final disposition. Gant therefore should not be described as convicted, and the allegation that she stabbed Hennings remains subject to the court process.
The attack also left a record outside the physical injuries. Hennings told FOX6 that doorbell-camera footage captured people from the same group vandalizing her car while she was upstairs waiting for emergency responders. The complaint, meanwhile, records the alleged threat her brother said he heard before the first fight. Neither report identified separate charges arising from the vehicle damage. Together, the accounts show why Hennings’ post-hospital concerns centered on the place itself: the alleged violence occurred around the shared entrance, stairway and upstairs door of the building where she was expected to recover.
No reliable later report located for this story confirmed whether Hennings was able to move, whether the property manager changed security arrangements or whether police made additional arrests. The most recent verified reporting said investigators were still seeking other known suspects and that Gant faced a felony charge. That leaves the criminal case and Hennings’ housing situation as separate unresolved consequences of the same Aug. 19 confrontation — one to be decided through the justice system, and the other tied to whether a survivor could feel safe returning to her home.
Author note: Last updated October 19, 2026.