Ashley Hudson’s June 2025 death led to cases involving her teenage brother, another sister and their mother.
MILWAUKEE — What began as a dispute among relatives near downtown Milwaukee led to a baseball-bat attack, a fatal shooting and criminal cases involving multiple family members. More than a year later, 16-year-old Hezile Frison has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing his sister, Ashley Hudson.
Frison was sentenced Friday, Sept. 25, after previously pleading guilty to first-degree reckless homicide. Hudson, 30, was killed during the June 16, 2025, confrontation near Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Vliet Street. The sentencing represents another major resolution in a case that prosecutors reconstructed through witness accounts, cellphone recordings and video streamed on social media.
The confrontation involved several members of Hudson’s family. According to the criminal complaint, a witness told investigators that Hudson’s sisters were upset with her over social media posts and went to confront her. Prosecutors said video showed two women attacking Hudson with a baseball bat as the dispute escalated outside.
Court filings said Hudson entered a vehicle as she tried to get away from the women, then emerged holding a knife. Prosecutors described the knife as being used to keep her attackers at a distance. The complaint said Frison, who was 15 at the time, obtained a handgun during the confrontation and pointed it toward Hudson.
Investigators said video showed Hudson backing away while Frison moved toward her. People at the scene could be heard telling him not to shoot, according to the complaint. Prosecutors said Frison fired from close range. Hudson ran a short distance and collapsed near the street corner. She died at the scene.
The investigation quickly expanded beyond Frison. Aaliyah Frison, then 21, was charged with aggravated battery after investigators said video showed her using the baseball bat against Hudson. She later pleaded guilty to a battery charge. In January 2026, a judge sentenced her to two years of probation.
Tara Hudson, the mother of Ashley Hudson and Hezile Frison, was also charged with misdemeanor obstructing an officer. Prosecutors said she initially told police she was farther away and could not see who fired the shot. Investigators said video placed her much closer to the shooting. Court records cited by news reports said she later acknowledged witnessing the gunfire and told investigators Ashley Hudson had been backing away when she was shot.
The homicide case against Hezile Frison also changed as it moved through court. Prosecutors initially charged him as an adult with first-degree intentional homicide. He ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree reckless homicide, avoiding a trial over the shooting. He was 16 by the time he appeared for sentencing.
During Friday’s hearing, Milwaukee County Judge David Borowski addressed the family violence that preceded the shooting and Frison’s role in escalating it. The judge noted the defense’s account of the teenager’s difficult upbringing but emphasized that Frison made the decision to use a firearm against his sister as she was moving away from him.
Frison told the court he wanted to bring Hudson back. Borowski told him that was impossible and imposed 20 years in prison. The court also ordered $1,800 in restitution. The sentencing came about 15 months after Hudson’s death and months after another sister received probation for her role in the fight that preceded the shooting.
The punishment resolves Frison’s homicide case at the trial-court level following his guilty plea. Hudson’s death remains the central consequence of a confrontation in which several relatives faced criminal allegations, with video evidence providing investigators a record of how the dispute escalated from a fight into a fatal shooting.
Author note: Last updated Sept. 26, 2026.