Akintunde Bowden and his fiancée, Theresa Bell, were inseparable the last nine years, but on a night she wasn’t at the Brown Deer apartment the couple shared, Bowden decided to confront a neighbor about loud noise and ended up dead.
The 41-year-old dental surgeon with Milwaukee Health Services, Inc. was shot and killed April 19 at the Tudor Park Condominiums, 8900 N. Park Plaza Court.
Police arrested a 27-year-old woman in connection to the shooting but prosecutors as of April 23 have not made a charging decision. The building’s property manager says the woman was “frightened” when she fatally shot Bowden and “wrongfully presumed” she was going to be assaulted.
In an interview with the Journal Sentinel April 23, Bell, who was set to marry Bowden later this year, said she doesn’t have all the details of what happened that night but the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office has been in contact with her.
Akintunde Bowden and Theresa, the engaged couple, enjoyed watching basketball games with a tub of popcorn.
Bell said the incident was sparked by a noise complaint, she doesn’t know the woman who was arrested, and she is upset that the property manager at the apartment complex sent a letter to tenants describing the incident, which was apparently captured on video.
The Tudor Park Condominiums are managed by Karademas Management. Their office declined to comment on April 23 to the Journal Sentinel, but David Karademas sent a letter to tenants on Easter Sunday, as first reported by WISN-TV (Channel 12).
“I am writing on this Easter Sunday out of necessity,” Karademas said.
“Some of you may have heard already that we had a tragic incident in the 8945 building last night,” he added. “My understanding is that the situation began with a resident making noise that bothered the resident in the apartment below.”
Karademas said he has no knowledge of any previous disputes between Bowden and the woman. And both were “very long term tenants.”
“I have an on-site caretaker for exactly this kind of situation, but the resident from the lower unit decided to take matters into his own hands,” Karademas added.
“According to our camera, he went up to the apartment himself and began aggressively banging on the door and even kicking it. The woman on the other side of the door became frightened and wrongfully presumed that she was about to be assaulted.
“She grabbed a gun, opened the door, and fired a single shot at what she mistook for an attacker. Sadly, the wound was fatal.”
Bowden was surgeon, family man, ‘provider,’ ‘protector’
Bowden, who provided dental services to underserved communities in Milwaukee since 2014, was memorialized by his employer earlier this week.
“Throughout his tenure, Dr. Bowden remained fiercely committed to MHSI’s mission of eliminating health disparities and improving outcomes for those most in need,” said Tito Izard, president and CEO of MHSI.
Bowden grew up on the south side of Chicago and what “pushes him forward” is serving Black communities with similarities to his upbringing, according to his fiancée.
Bell says he was more than a championed dental surgeon; he was a cherished uncle to a 2-year-old girl. Bowden and Bell would watch their niece about three times a week.
Akintunde Bowden was a cherished uncle to a 2-year-old girl.
“They had a very close relationship,” Bell said. “She’s not our daughter, but how much we love and care for her, it was like our daughter-niece, essentially.”
Bowden enjoyed spending time with family near the water and watching basketball. He was particularly excited for the NBA playoffs getting underway this past weekend. Bell said it was common for the couple to have a tub of popcorn and enjoy basketball together.
Akintunde Bowden and Theresa were set to get married later this year.
“He was super intense about the game,” she said.
Bell described her fiancé as a “provider” and “protector.”
She says she wants “justice” for Bowden’s killing. The district attorney’s office said April 23 that a charging decision is still “pending.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What happened to dental surgeon Bowden? Shot, killed in Brown Deer