Left: Ronald Fuller (Milwaukee County Jail). Right: LaKeyshia Timmons (GoFundMe).
A Wisconsin man has been sentenced to two decades in prison for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, a mother of eight. He claimed that his intention was “only to wound her” and that the “devil” influenced his actions when he shot her.
Ronald Fuller, 54, faced sentencing on Wednesday, receiving 20 years for the 2024 murder of LaKeyshia Timmons in Milwaukee. In April, Fuller admitted guilt to a charge of second-degree reckless homicide.
Timmons” family spoke of the devastation of losing her.
“She should still be here, her absence is loud,” expressed Latanilia Timmons, LaKeyshia’s daughter, to local Fox affiliate WITI. “We have each other and we’re going to get through it. But I feel like it is what it is. I don’t care for him.”
The victim’s mother added: “It will never bring my daughter back. I still wake up through the night waiting on her phone calls. I wake up every night waiting on her phone calls knowing she’s never coming back.”
Fuller told cops after the shooting he “only wanted to wound her.” On Wednesday, he said he made a series of bad decisions.
“Had I not picked up the gun we would not be sitting here. My memory of that day is not entirely clear. I can say that I was not thinking clearly or rationally that day. But my paranoia, use of drugs, and medical condition are not an excuse,” he acknowledged.
As previously covered by Law&Crime, Milwaukee police were alerted around 7:30 a.m. on April 1, 2024, due to a ShotSpotter report indicating gunfire in the 2700 block of N. 18th Street on the city’s north side, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit. Upon arrival, they discovered a woman, later identified as Timmons, with a gunshot wound to her side. Paramedics declared her dead on the scene.
Detectives found nine shell casings about 65 feet from Timmons’ body. Cops spoke with one of her sons, who said he woke up to gunfire and looked outside his bedroom window. He saw his mom on the ground and a man with a “distinct limp” walking away from her. The son ran outside to help his mother, who was breathing but not responsive. He later realized the man he saw walking away was Fuller, whom he had known for about seven years and was the father of his younger siblings. He also identified Fuller from his arrest photo and said he was wearing the same clothes as the man he saw earlier in the day, according to the affidavit.
Surveillance video captured Fuller’s movements prior to the shooting. It showed him walking around the house as Timmons returned to her home in a van. As she got out, she saw Fuller approach her.
“Ron, what the f— you doing Ron?” she said, according to the affidavit. “Don’t play with me Ron, don’t play with me Ron. Ron no, I am your baby momma dude, what the f— is wrong with you Ron? Ron stop playing.”
The video showed Fuller walking away with a limp.
Investigators later learned Timmons and Fuller were in the midst of a “messy” custody dispute over the three children they shared. He had found out where she lived from another one of her children.
In a post-Miranda interview with cops, Fuller admitted to shooting his ex-girlfriend. When asked why, he said he didn’t know. He said “the devil” made him walk over to her home.
Timmons was a mother of eight children. In a GoFundMe fundraiser, her daughter detailed the history of domestic violence Fuller allegedly inflicted on Timmons.
“My mother went through all the avenues to insure safety from this man but he some how found our new address and plotted to kill our mother after she dropped my siblings off at school he waited until she returned home and took her life,” Latanilia Timmons wrote.
