Antoine Z. Edwards won’t be getting any father-of-the-year awards, that’s for sure. A criminal complaint says he set up a fatal Burglar King robbery with two 16-year-old girls including his own daughter.
Antoine Z. Edwards of Milwaukee is accused of staging the botched and deadly Burger King robbery with his teenage daughter and the 16-year-old girl who was shot to death while working the drive-thru window, Niesha Brazell.
That’s according to a new criminal complaint that gives shocking details about the homicide of the teenage girl, who was working in the Burger King drive-thru window when it was robbed – the complaint says by Edwards, with her knowledge. A co-worker, Derrick Ellis, is accused of firing the fatal shot, but the complaint says he wasn’t in on the robbery. He wasn’t supposed to have the gun because he’s a felon, and he’s been charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Read the full criminal complaint at the bottom.
The robbers didn’t count on Ellis having a gun and trying to defend Brazell, without realizing she was allegedly in on it.
Antoine Z. Edwards’ daughter, who is not named in the complaint, was Brazell’s best friend and also worked at the Capitol Drive Burger King. Her father, Edwards, was the man photographed with a gun climbing partway into the drive-thru window, an act that prompted Ellis to open fire, accidentally killing Brazell, who was in the crossfire, the complaint says.
Antoine Z. Edwards was charged with felony murder, intentionally contributing to the delinquency of a child and death is a consequence and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Edwards’ daughter was at the Burger King when police first responded. She admitted initially lying to police but later admitted that the “robbery was staged to steal money and she was in on the plan.”
A few days before the incident, “she (Niesha Brazell) and the defendant planned for the defendant (Edwards) to come to the drive-thru window and stage a robbery at closing time when the register was likely to have lots of money.” Brazell usually worked the drive-thru window. The other employee, who fired the fatal shot, Ellis, was not in on the plan, the complaint says.
On the night of the incident, Edwards’ daughter saw Edwards the first time he pulled up to the drive-thru window. She said she believed Brazell panicked and yelled, “He’s got a gun! He’s got a gun!”
Antoine Z. Edwards admitted being the Impala river and participating in what was to have been a staged robbery of the Burger King,, according to the complaint. He tried to insulate his daughter from involvement. He claimed the plan was made between Edwards and Brazell, without input from his daughter, it says.
He admitted borrowing the Impala used in the botched heist, removing the plates and then going to the Burger King at closing time. He said that Brazell did not hand over the money as planned and was “taking too long” so he crawled partway into the window. Suddenly someone inside the building started shooting,” the complaint says. That was Ellis.
Police recovered two pistols at Antoine Z. Edwards’ residence even though he is a convicted felon for a 2012 burglary conviction, the complaint says.
“The ensuing investigation (which is not being detailed in this complaint) led police to suspect that the defendant, Antoine Edwards, was the driver of the Impala, and that his own 16-year-old daughter was working in Burger King at the time of the incident and may have been involved with Edwards in staging a robbery to steal money from Burger King. Both of them were arrested at separate locations,” the complaint says.
The complaint further describes what happened, alleging:
On Jan. 2, 2022, at about 10:13 p.m., police responded to a shooting at the Burger King restaurant at 5120 W. Capitol Drive in Milwaukee. They found the 16-year-old female victim, Niesha Brazell, lying on the floor near the drive-thru window, suffering from gunshot wounds to the chest. She was pronounced deceased. The death was caused by multiple gunshot wounds.
“The footage from the camera inside of the drive-thru window shows that at about 10:05 PM, an Impala pulls up to the drive-thru window. The driver raps on the closed window. At that time no one is attending the window, as the restaurant is closed and the employees are busy cleaning and closing up,” the complaint says.
“A juvenile male employee responds to the rapping and opens the window and briefly says something to the Impala driver. The Impala then pulls away, and the juvenile male closes the window. About three minutes later, the same Impala and driver re-appear at the drive-thru window. This time the victim, NHB, is in the area of the window, and she opens it. She immediately and quickly backs away from the open window and stands off to the side of the window, so that she is no longer visible to the driver of the Impala.”
Continues the complaint:
“She removes the cash drawer from the cash register and stands there holding it while she calls out towards the other employees who are in the interior of the restaurant. She remains in this situation for about 40 seconds, and after that amount of time the driver of the Impala opens the car door, steps out of the car, and inserts his upper body into the drive-thru window, such that his head, both shoulders, and both arms and hands are now on the inside of the building. 1
In one of his hands the Impala driver is holding a semiautomatic pistol.”
At this point, in response to the Impala driver entering partway into the window, Brazell “backs away from him a few
feet, moving further towards the interior of the building. The Impala driver waves the gun and points the gun in her direction, motioning with his free hand and reaching it towards the cash register drawer, which NHB has placed on a table next to her. NHB and the Impala driver remain in this situation for about 22 seconds, during which NHB is facing the Impala driver but continually looking back over her shoulder towards the interior of the building and calling out in that direction. Suddenly the Impala driver ducks and pulls himself out of the window, and at the same moment NHB falls to the floor. The Impala driver immediately drives away, and NHB remains on the floor, rolling about, bleeding, and crying out. It does not appear that the Impala driver’s gun ever discharged, since there is no muzzle flash or smoke, no cartridge casing is ejected, and there is no motion consistent with the recoil of a gun.”
Other cameras show that a male employee, Derrick Ellis, “was in the interior of the building at the start of the encounter between the NHB and the Impala driver at the drive-thru window. After the encounter has started and NHB is calling out, the manager is seen calling out towards Ellis. Ellis goes to a door that leads to the drive-thru area and peers around the door. At that moment what Ellis would have seen is the Impala driver’s head, shoulders, arms, and hands, inside the building, holding a gun and pointing it at NHB. Ellis reaches around the door with a pistol and fires towards the drive-thru window. Muzzle flashes come from Ellis’s gun, and casings can be seen being ejected from it. NHB was standing between Ellis and the Impala driver, in the line of fire.”
In a separate complaint, Edwards was accused of felon in possession of a firearm, disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon. On Dec. 30, 2021, along West Purdue Street, he was accused of firing a firearm twice in the air. Police had responded to a Shotspotter report of gunfire. When they arrived, Edwards’ girlfriend told them he carries a silver and black Warthawg .45 caliber handgun and fired it “twice into the air while in his vehicle.”
She said he bragged about getting a new gun and said, “U know I test them after I get m not knowing it was be all this Bs I got it from around the corner.”
Antoine Z. Edwards Criminal Complaints
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