Prosecutors had already charged a 38-year-old man and said the case could be upgraded after an autopsy.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — A man shot inside Aurora Sinai Medical Center’s emergency department waiting area on March 2 died Saturday after being taken off life support, days after prosecutors charged a Milwaukee man in the hospital shooting that also injured a second person.
Christopher Robinson Jr., 40, was pronounced dead Saturday, according to statements released through family attorney B’Ivory LaMarr and reports from Milwaukee television stations covering the case. His death raises the stakes in a shooting that unfolded in one of the city’s busiest medical settings and had already triggered questions about how a gun got past hospital screening. Prosecutors had charged 38-year-old Ronnell Shaw with attempted first-degree intentional homicide and other felonies, while court filings said the state reserved the right to seek a homicide charge after any autopsy.
The shooting happened early Monday, March 2, inside Aurora Sinai Medical Center near North 12th Street and West State Street in downtown Milwaukee. According to the criminal complaint, officers already at the hospital for a medical assignment were told by staff there was a possible active shooter in the lobby. When officers reached the area, they found Robinson on the ground with a gunshot wound and took Shaw into custody without incident. Investigators later reviewed security video that, prosecutors said, showed Robinson at the front desk area, appearing to check in or speak with staff. The video then showed Shaw coming around a corner in a wheelchair, rolling up behind Robinson and raising a gun toward the back of Robinson’s head. Prosecutors said Shaw fired, then turned and fired again, grazing another person as hospital workers scattered.
In the days after the shooting, Robinson’s family and law enforcement described his condition as grave. FOX6 first reported, then corrected, that Robinson had died earlier in the week after the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office revised information it had provided. By Saturday, LaMarr said Robinson had been taken off life support and pronounced dead. The attorney said Robinson left behind five children and said the family was focused on supporting Robinson’s mother, who was with him when the shooting happened. “His mother, who gave birth to him, raised him, had to sit there and watch his life being taken away right before her eyes,” LaMarr said in remarks carried by FOX6. LaMarr also said the family was working through organ donation steps after Robinson’s death. Authorities have not publicly described any prior relationship between Robinson and Shaw, and court records cited by local news reports said Shaw told investigators he did not know Robinson’s name.
The charging documents sketched a chaotic and still partly unexplained chain of events inside the hospital. Shaw, who prosecutors identified as a felon, was charged Friday with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree recklessly endangering safety and possession of a firearm by a felon. In the complaint, detectives said Shaw told them a friend dropped him off at the hospital and that he initially stayed outside because he knew he had to disarm himself. He said he placed the gun in a cup and then in the garage before entering. Later, according to the complaint, Shaw told detectives he saw people in and around the hospital who looked suspicious and claimed Robinson had put a bag around the metal detector. Shaw told police he retrieved the gun, rolled through the metal detectors in a wheelchair and shot Robinson even though, investigators said, Shaw admitted Robinson never threatened or spoke to him. The complaint quoted Shaw as saying, “I shot him. I don’t know his name.”
The shooting quickly widened from a criminal case into a broader examination of hospital security. Aurora Health Care said an internal review found that the walk-through metal detector was operating as intended, but a handheld wand screening “was not conducted appropriately.” The health system said the people responsible were no longer with the organization. That statement became a central point for Robinson’s family, which argued the shooting should never have happened inside an emergency department waiting area. LaMarr said the family was looking for accountability from Aurora and wanted to make sure what happened to Robinson did not happen to anyone else. The hospital has not publicly detailed how Shaw moved through screening, how long he remained inside before the shooting, or what security staffing levels were in place at that time. Those unanswered questions are likely to shape both the criminal investigation and any potential civil dispute that follows.
Local television coverage showed how the case developed in rapid, painful stages over less than a week. Monday began with a report of gunfire inside a hospital lobby. By Friday, prosecutors had laid out a narrative built on surveillance video, officer observations and Shaw’s own statements. By Saturday, the family’s focus had shifted from hope for recovery to funeral arrangements and organ donation. The second victim survived a graze wound, according to court filings, but that injury added another felony count and underscored the danger to patients, staff and visitors nearby. Because the shooting happened in a medical center rather than on a street or in a home, it drew added public attention and sharpened concerns about whether even places built for care can be secured against sudden violence.
The next legal steps now center on the medical examiner’s findings and the district attorney’s charging decision. The complaint cited by FOX6 said the state reserved the right to increase the attempted homicide count to intentional homicide after an autopsy. That means Robinson’s death could formally reshape the case in the coming days if prosecutors amend the charges. Beyond the courtroom, Aurora faces ongoing pressure to explain the screening lapse its own review identified and to show what has changed since March 2. For Robinson’s family, the criminal case and any hospital response now unfold alongside mourning for a 40-year-old father whose trip through an emergency room ended in a killing.
Author note: Last updated March 8, 2026.