Milwaukee Mother Shot 12-Year-Old Boy During Dispute Over Water Bottle Sales, Then Led Police on 83 MPH Chase with Her Children

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MILWAUKEE — A Milwaukee woman, 33-year-old Cosetta Burrell, is being held on a $100,000 bond after prosecutors say she shot a 12-year-old boy in the leg all because of a dispute over water bottles.

She then led officers on a high-speed chase with four children in the vehicle, leading to more charges against her.

Cosetta Burrell 


According to police reports, the 12-year-old boy often sold water bottles at a median near his apartment to earn extra money. 

But on the afternoon of July 17, 2026, a different group of children started selling water and juice at that same median, so when the boy found out, chased the other kids away, and damaged a cooler they had brought with them. 

A short time later the boy headed back to the median with another child a white Nissan Pathfinder reportedly pulled up, and according to a witness, Burrell got out of the SUV.  

After a quick interaction, she fired five or six shots, then she got back in and drove off while yelling, “I should’ve killed your a—!” There were about five children in the back of the SUV at the time, the witness said, as per Law & Crime.

One of the bullets hit the 12-year-old in the leg. Luckily, he was able to run through an alley and get to his home, where his parents rushed him to the hospital.

Detectives from the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office later identified the driver as Burrell after preliminary investigations.

Around 7:30 p.m. that same evening, officers spotted the white Pathfinder and tried to pull it over but Burrell kept going.

She ran a stop sign while speeding away, and at one point, she swerved toward a Milwaukee police officer who was putting down stop sticks. 

She then led police on a chase that covered 5.7 miles at speeds up to 83 mph with her were her four children and a male passenger, inside the SUV. 

When the vehicle was finally stopped and the children were helped out, and all of them “were crying and visibly shaking,” according to the complaint.

Officers immediately took her into custody, and further investigation revealed that the SUV had been reported stolen earlier by one of Burrell’s friends.

Cosetta Burrell in court 


During an interview with law enforcement, she told them that her own son had been bullied by the boy over where they could sell water and juice. 

She added that when her son called to say the boy had broken his cooler, she decided to go “confront” him. 

She said she took a gun that belonged to her girlfriend, put her children in the SUV, and drove to the median. She claimed her intention was to “knock out” the boy, and that she fired at his feet because she was “trying to scare him, not kill him.”

While Burrell was in jail, detectives reviewed recorded phone calls she made which further implicated her.

In those calls, she insisted she was simply trying to help her son and his friends “get their motherf—ing money,” and she expressed regret about the shooting saying, “I should have just punched him.” 

She also was heard saying, “This ain’t your corner… I don’t know who the f— raised you, but they raised you wrong, didn’t raise you right. I’m finna show you right.” 

In a later call, she called herself a “hero” and claimed “the entire community agrees,” but that comment was later addressed during her first court appearance. 

“Nobody in the community, nobody in the hood, thinks that somebody that shoots a 12-year-old kid is a hero,” Milwaukee County Circuit Court Commissioner Barry Phillips said. “You are not a hero. If you did this, you’re a zero.”

Burrell, who has multiple prior convictions for child abuse, now faces charges that include reckless injury, child abuse, reckless endangerment, and child neglect. 

She now faces 18 felony charges and four misdemeanors, and she remains in the Milwaukee County Jail, until her next court hearing which is set for July 28, 2026.

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