Victim of fatal shooting was UW-Whitewater graduate

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MILWAUKEE (AP) — The victim of a fatal shooting in Milwaukee over the weekend was fraternity member and homecoming king at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

Police identified the man who was killed near downtown Milwaukee Saturday as 22-year-old Purcell Pearson. Friends say Pearson was a beloved member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and graduated from Whitewater in May 2020.

Pearson was president of his fraternity’s Zeta Iota chapter and campus homecoming king in 2019.

UW-Whitewater associate vice chancellor Kenny Yarbrough says he talked at length with Pearson about his future. Yarbrough says Pearson planned to become a psychiatrist and help those struggling with mental health issues, WITI-TV reported.

In surveillance video, Pearson can be seen holding onto the driver’s side of a minivan, as it swerves the wrong way down the street just before 12:30 p.m. Police say someone in the van fired the shots that killed Pearson.

No arrests have been made.