Arieuna Nichole Reed was identified in multiple tributes from family members and friends as the 23-year-old woman who lost her life in the active shooter situation that unfolded at a Brown Deer, Wisconsin, apartment complex.
She worked as a medical assistant, had started her own design business, and filled her Facebook page with pictures of her young son. Tributes flowed for Reed on Facebook, with many people expressing shock at her tragic death.
“This is so heartbreaking I was just talking to you 💔,” a friend wrote on Facebook.
“This is so sad. If u in domestic violence. Please get out… don’t wait! Leave! 😭😭💔💔” another woman wrote on Facebook.
The gunman streamed live on the Facebook page of Larvell Huddleston, the father of Reed’s child, who went by the name Velle Vell in rap videos and on social media. Multiple law enforcement sources told Heavy that police believe Huddleston was the shooter, although they have not formally named either the suspect or the victims.
In 2021, there were 35 homicide victims in Milwaukee that were domestic violence-related and 81 non-fatal shooting victims, according to the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission’s dashboard. There was a large racial disparity, with 87% of the victims being Black.
The shooter is dead, Brown Deer’s police chief confirmed in a news conference several hours after the shooting on February 5, 2022. He said that, in addition to the female victim, a man was shot and killed and another man was shot and wounded. Police believe Huddleston took his own life in the second-floor apartment. The police chief said the shooting spree started as a domestic disturbance.
The disturbing Facebook live stream emerged showing the gunman with a gun and talking about shooting at police. You can watch it here.
You can see squads outside in the parking lot, and, for a moment, a glimpse of a woman’s body near a car. At one point, you can see a young boy clutching a piece of pizza in the video. The couple shared a toddler-aged son named Egypt.
Reed went by the name “Arieuna Nichole” on one of her Facebook pages and Arieuna Reed on another.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Reed’s Cousin Says She Was ‘Happy & Laughing’ Just Hours Before the Shooting
Destiny Mull, Reed’s cousin, confirmed she was one of the victims in a Facebook post that chastised some people for focusing on the shooter’s mental health.
She wrote,
My cousin lost her life at the hands of COWARD! He said out his own mouth nothing is going justify what he did so why are y’all trying to? He went on live to get y’all to feel bad for him because that’s what abusers, manipulators and gaslighters do he killed his self because he couldn’t live with what he did not because of mental health. I’m on this app scrolling seeing so many condolences to him and none to her, her family or her baby! Sh** making me sick to my stomach! Had a full outfit picked out he wanted to be buried in and started praying to God as if he wasn’t about to burn in hell. My cousin was just up happy and laughing sharing stuff of Facebook 4 hours ago, she woke up with intentions of still being here to take care, provide and nurture her child, that was taken away from her because of jealousy and Selfishness. 
Police said they believe the suspect then shot and killed himself.
“She was an awesome kid. Never really had any problems with her growing up,” her father told 12 News. “I mean it’s a parents dream to have a child of her magnitude, respectful and honorable to her parents. Real vivacious and an infectious character that people would just gravitate towards her.”
Her parents told WISN that Reed and Huddleston were no longer dating but she was trying to co-parent with him. She was dropping their son over at his apartment after soccer practice, according to the television station.
“From my understanding is when she dropped him off and as she was leaving he shot her from the balcony, and then ended up shooting the two people that were trying to help our daughter,” her mother told WISN. “We believed that if they would have gotten her help she still would have been with us.”
2. Reed Was a Medical Assistant
On LinkedIn, Reed wrote that she was a medical assistant in sales for Ascension, a position she had held for more than a year. Before that, she worked as a medical assistant at APM Healthcare Developments Limited.
She was previously a package handler for UPS in Elm Grove, a housekeeper for ABM Industries, and a server at Buffalo Wild Wings in Milwaukee.
She had an associate’s degree from Bryant & Stratton College in Milwaukee as a medical/clinical assistant, according to her LinkedIn page.
3. Reed Wrote About Her Relationship on Social Media
Reed sometimes wrote about her relationship with Huddleston on Facebook.
“When he randomly tell you to take all your clothes off…but all he wanted to do was give u a full body massage with lotion😩 💆🏽♀️that make u fall asleep, then he carry you to the bed cause u fell asleep on the couch… I don’t deserve you sometimes 🤭😩💕 Velle Vell thank you for last night it was well needed🥰” she wrote in November, 2021.
In October 2020, she shared photos with Huddleston and their son, writing, “t’s my favorite szn for a reason 🍂🍁🎃👨👩👦 Our little boy 🥺🧡❤️ I’m so jealous that he loves his dad more now 😩🤦🏽♀️ Velle Vell.”
In 2020, she wrote about relationships:
I Don’t ever wanna feel played with again that sh** not cute, funny, or cool and I don’t wish that sh** on nobody💯, I deserve a (man) who love everything about me, and see me as a blessing💁🏽♀️ because ik wat I can bring to the table and I’m truly not a bad person I got flaws like everybody else, idek wat I do to keep deserving unworthy mfs of my love…
One video she posted showed them both flashing large wads of cash while holding their son.
On Facebook, Reed also sold T-shirts, plaques and other memorabilia.
4. Tributes Flowed for Reed
Many people wrote tributes to Reed on social media.
“My Heart really goes out to you and your family even Egypt. This one did hit close to my heart even knowing your son is the same age as mines … 😔. I’m just lost of words Ar Arieuna Nichole. May you and and your soul rest heavenly and may you be your son angel forever 🙏🏿” one woman wrote.
Another friend wrote, “D*** I really can’t wrap my head around that he really took your life like that and was not thinking about the fact you gotta raise your son I’m reall life hurt behind this one we was friends we met in college was dancing together and all I remember us dancing in the living room of your parents house then coming to my mother house up the street to have practice and all no words can’t explain the hurt I’m feeling for you Arieuna Nichole rest easy baby girl ❤️🕊”
A woman wrote, “She was pretty too he so wrong that video of his being depressed was a distraction from this cause he really know he messed up and tried to kill his self after.”
5. The Suspect Shot Three People & Then Himself, Police Say
FacebookLarvell Huddleston
Brown Deer Police Chief Pete Nimmer said in a news conference that officers were dispatched to an apartment complex in the 8900 block of North Park Court at 10:09 a.m. for “shots fired with a possible victim in the parking lot.” Officers were shot at “by a suspect from the second floor” when they arrived, he said.
In a second news conference, the chief said that three people are dead. They are a white male, 31; a black female, 23; and the suspect, a 26-year-old black male.
A fourth person, a black male, age 36, was shot in the leg but survived. The chief said it “started as a domestic dispute between two people,” and “at least two knew each other.”
He said it’s now believe that the suspect shot himself. He is dead. He was shooting from the second-floor balcony said the chief. He said there was “activity” in the hallway and parking lot, and authorities aren’t certain whether anyone was shot.
One of the police squads was hit, but no officers were injured, and no officers from Brown Deer or other responding agencies returned fire, Nimmer said. No children were among the shooting victims, Nimmer said. The FBI and Milwaukee Police Department also responded to the scene.
Tactical teams cleared the building. The chief said there might have been a shooting inside the apartment as well as outside of it.
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner tweeted that the fatalities are an adult male and adult female victim. The victims’ names were not released. The suspect then died, bringing the death toll to three.
MCMEO responding to 8800 N Park Plaza Ct for the preliminary report of one adult male victim and one adult female victim. @BrownDeerWIPD investigating. Autopsies on Monday.
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