Milwaukee Road Rage Killing Suspect From Glendale Was Sentenced to Prison

A Milwaukee County judge said that without a justice system, we have anarchy and chaos, when she sentenced Davante Doss to serve 60 years in state prison Thursday, for the killing of Fabian Guzman, a 16-year-old passenger from a car that Doss fired an AR-15 style rifle into after a minor traffic accident in Milwaukee last year.

“Our streets should not be a war zone,” Judge Stephanie Rothstein said. “Unfortunately, because of people like Mr. Doss, they have become that.”

Doss, a 29-year-old Air Force veteran, will serve 40 years of prison confinement, and 20 years of extended supervision for causing the death of Guzman.

During his trial, Doss mailed letters to witnesses and asked them to not testify, and for them to ask other witnesses to do the same. Grant Huebner, a State of Wisconsin prosecutor, said this demonstrated Doss’s aggressive capabilities.

“The witnesses were terrified to come to court after they received the letters,” Huebner said.

The court viewed Doss’s action with concern, and Rothstein said sometimes the court serves harsher sentences for interfering with justice than for the actual crime.

“The letters were sent without dispute from the defendant trying to sway witnesses from coming to court,” Rothstein said.

The shooting was recorded by an onboard security camera for a Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) bus on Sept. 19, 2020, near North 6th Street and West Walnut Street.

The MCTS video showed Doss stepping out of his car and firing an American Tactical AR-15 style rifle into another car, following a minor traffic accident, which included one side mirror that was knocked off and fell to the street.

“The defendant (Doss) fires the gun at least 10 times,” Huebner said. “Then he drives off.”

Doss said he fired his rifle to scare the driver, but Guzman was a passenger in the other car, and he was shot multiple times. The driver of Guzman’s car drove to St. Francis Hospital, where Guzman died from multiple gunshot wounds.

“This is the kind of random violence that effects a whole city,” Rothstein said. “People leave the city, they go elsewhere, and businesses leave the city, it affects us all.”

Guzman liked beat making, rapping and chess playing, and Raquel Aleman, who read a letter from Guzman’s friends and community, said the Hip-Hop Chess Club of Wisconsin will not forget Guzman anytime soon.

Doss was not alone when he shot Guzman, he was driving his son to drop him off with the boy’s mother.

“He had a small child in the car with him during this incident,” Huebner said.

The MCTS security video captured Doss’s license plate, and the police used automatic license plate readers in Milwaukee County and found him at a Motel 6 in Glendale, Wis.

Doss was a felon and was barred from owning or purchasing firearms when the shooting of Guzman occurred. Huebner said Doss had an aggressive history and that he disregarded the rule of law daily.

“It doesn’t matter how many times the court tells him he cannot have a weapon,” Huebner said. “He continues to carry an assault rifle.”

The argument following the traffic accident should not have ended the way that it did, and Doss said he wished there was a way to reverse what happen, and that he did not mean to kill anybody.

“I want to apologize to Fabian’s family, He sounds like a wonderful person,” Doss said. “He sounds like someone I would want to hang out with, and make music with.”

Guzman’s aunt, Mary Jessop, read a letter from his parents, Miguel Cadena and Diana Aguirre, that asked the court to give Doss a maximum sentence.

“We ask the court to show no mercy to the violent defendant Davante Doss,” Jessop said.

Guzman’s music offered some comfort to his parents, friends and community members.

“He had a love for music,” Jessop said. “We have been blessed with songs he wrote and performed that we can listen to without him.”

Doss had a history of domestic abuse and violence. There was a restraining order against him in 2016 and an injunction from Oct. 20, 2016, that further barred him from owning a firearm till 2026, and that required him to surrender all his firearms to the Milwaukee County Sheriff.