A Milwaukee man who killed a beloved barber and youth mentor will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Ellen Brostrom handed Joel Blake, 25, a life term in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting death of Dominic Carter. Blake was found guilty and convicted by a jury of first-degree intentional homicide, possession of a firearm by a felon, and felony bail jumping.
In the afternoon of September 2021, police officers responded to a Domino Pizza restaurant near Silver Spring and Lovers Lane after reports of a shooting. There, officers found Carter with multiple gunshot wounds. Despite their attempt to save his life, the victim succumbed to his wounds.
Witnesses told investigators they had seen a Black Acura circling the parking lot of the premises where Carter’s barbershop was located throughout the day, according to FOX6. Hence, the witnesses assumed the restaurant was about to get robbed and focused on the car's temporary tags. After investigators had been provided with the information, it was later determined that the tags were registered to a vehicle belonging to Blake, a "Wild 100s" street gang member. Authorities later found the same Black Acura burning after reports of a vehicle fire near 107th and Mill.
Furthermore, investigators retrieved video footage from the restaurant that showed Blake following the victim into the restaurant and shooting Carter multiple times. Also, the defendant had posted a video on social media admitting to the killing after he claimed there had been an attempt on his life for killing the 35-year-old beloved barber. During the trial, prosecutors presented Blake’s phone records that placed the defendant at the restaurant when the fatal incident occurred and also where the Acura was found burning.
Carter’s family described the victim as a pleasant individual who spent his life mentoring youths and giving them an alternative career option to be entrepreneurs and learn skills in cosmetology.
“Not everybody is meant to go to college, so he wanted to give kids another alternative. You can be a barber, you can open your own business and stuff like that,” said Carter’s mother Cecelia Jordan, reported Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Carter is survived by his mother and eight children.
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