Four Chicago males face decades in a prison after prosecutors say they are responsible for shooting and killing Stanley Smith Jr. in a Milwaukee Taco Bell parking lot while attempting to break into vehicles during their latest theft attempt of a spree targeting Jeeps.

Lamont D. Stanton, 19, was charged Tuesday with first-degree reckless homicide, as party to a crime, in addition to felony weapon and carjacking charges. Three other males were charged with felony murder, as party to a crime, in addition to weapon and carjacking charges as well. They are Correnthis C. Neal, 18; Tramaine T. Walton, 17; and Jovani J. Velazquez, 30.

The west side Milwaukee shooting took place May 5 shortly after 6 p.m. in the Taco Bell parking lot, located at 5630 W. North Ave. The incident began at a nearby bar, Scene 1 Restaurant & Lounge, located at 5526 W. North Ave.

According to a criminal complaint, Smith was at the bar and parked in a Taco Bell parking lot. The DJ made an announcement some people were outside breaking into cars, which led to patrons, including Smith, rushing out the bar toward their vehicles.

One witness described Smith as being in a “tussle” with masked men before gunshots rang out, resulting in him laying motionless in the parking lot, the complaint states.

Police said the incident was captured on surveillance footage. Video shows four males exit a vehicle before approaching a white Jeep SUV in the lot next to Smith’s vehicle. The owner of the Jeep would later say the wires underneath his dash were pulled out. Soon, more people showed up from the bar and the four males scattered.

But, moments later, three of the males held their arms up as if they’re pointing guns, while the fourth person engaged in physical struggle with Smith, according to the complaint.

Soon, shots rang out before the males fled the scene in a gray Jeep Grand Cherokee. Police found casings from multiple different guns at the scene, the complaint states.

Police said they used high-tech cameras that read license plates, called Flock cameras, and located the gray Jeep traveling on Highway 175. Police said they identified the vehicle because the rear driver’s side window was covered with a cloth. Police found the vehicle on surveillance footage at other locations as well, including a gas station.

The gray Jeep was reported stolen on Milwaukee’s east side on May 4 and the theft was captured on surveillance footage, which shows three males exit a car before stealing the Jeep and driving away with the car they arrived in, the complaint states.

The owner of the Jeep received a call shortly after his vehicle was stolen demanding $6,000 for the return of his vehicle, according to police. The owner believed the suspect retrieved his number from the vehicle’s computer system. Police would later use the number the suspect called from to draft a search warrant for the phone records.

Police requested multiple search warrants for any common cellphone numbers that were at various locations the Jeep was spotted at and that were also present at the scene of Smith’s murder.

Milwaukee police said Addison, Illinois, police informed them that one of the numbers was tied to a months-long investigation on stolen high-end SUVs in northern Illinois, and that Neal and Walton were under surveillance and they have real-time location data of their cellphones. Stanton was also arrested on April 30 in a separate incident and police had been tracking his phone since his release.

3 arrested in a vehicle pursuit that ends downtown

Three of the males were arrested on May 21 following a vehicle pursuit that ended in downtown Milwaukee, leading to multiple agencies converging on a parking structure.

The vehicle the males were driving at the time, a Jeep SRT Track Hawk, was also stolen in downtown Chicago and the owner tracked and followed the vehicle as it drove from Illinois to Milwaukee, according to the complaint. The owner said as he followed his vehicle throughout Milwaukee, he spotted the males attempt to steal a different Jeep on Milwaukee’s south side.

The males went to a car dealership in the 2200 block of West Greenfield Avenue where they were confronted by an armed employee, the complaint states. The employee said the males pointed guns at him and so he retreated back into the office and called 911. The men left without taking another Jeep, the complaint states.

Officers observed the suspected stolen vehicle that the males arrived in traveling in an alley near the 3200 block of North 46th Street. Soon a pursuit ensued, which reached speeds over 100 miles per hour, police said. Police lost the vehicle but tracked it to the downtown parking structure at 777 N. Milwaukee St.

The parking garage attendant said she observed the Jeep enter and park before four men exit, three ran into the garage together, and one ran out of the garage by himself. Another witness described a man with a backpack clutching his waistband as if he was armed.

Authorities began to search the area when they came across Stanton, Walton and Neal, who were arrested. Police found a number of items left behind in the structure including more than a dozen car key fobs and multiple weapons, according to the complaint.

Police arrested the fourth male, Velazquez, in Saint Francis on May 24 after tracking his phone.

In interviews with detectives, one man described using Percocet prior to attempting to steal a Jeep in the Taco Bell parking lot. Two of the males admitted to be involved in the homicide and one of them named all the people involved, which are the four defendants, according to the complaint. One man said Smith approached the men with a gun. The males do not yet have permanent attorneys listed.

Family and friends of Smith couldn’t be reached Wednesday.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Four Chicago males charged with killing man at Milwaukee Taco Bell