Koreem Ozier, 27, killed in shooting near 12th and Memorial; no arrest announced

Originally published by Racine County Eye.

Overview:

Koreem Ozier, 27, of Racine was shot and killed Sunday, Sept. 20, near 12th Street and South Memorial Drive, the Racine Police Department said. Officers responded at about 8:56 p.m. and found Ozier with a gunshot wound to the chest. He was taken to Ascension Hospital and died of his injuries. Police said preliminary information indicates Ozier was shot during an altercation with a man they described as unknown, and that the shooting appears to be an isolated incident. The department listed the death as a homicide and has not named a suspect or announced an arrest. Ozier was the all-time leading scorer in Case High School boys basketball history and played Division I basketball at Sacred Heart University and the University of Louisiana Monroe before playing overseas. Anyone with information is asked to call the Racine Police Department Investigations Unit at (262) 635-7756.

RACINE — A Racine man was shot and killed Sunday night near 12th Street and South Memorial Drive, according to the Racine Police Department.

Officers responded to the area at about 8:56 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, for a report of a shooting, police said.

The victim was Koreem Ozier, 27, of Racine. Ozier was found with a gunshot wound to the chest and was taken to Ascension Hospital for treatment, where he died of his injuries, according to police.

Preliminary information indicates Ozier became involved in an altercation with a man police described as unknown, and that he was shot in the chest during the altercation, police said.

Police said the shooting appears to be an isolated incident. The department listed the death as a homicide in the news release it issued Monday. The release does not name a suspect or say whether anyone is in custody.

Case High School’s all-time leading scorer

Ozier was the all-time leading scorer in Case High School boys basketball history, finishing with 1,405 points, according to Sacred Heart University, where he later played.

As a senior in 2017, he averaged 30.4 points a game, the highest of any Division 1 player in Wisconsin that season, and became the first player in Racine County history to average 30 points a game, according to the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association, which named him to its Division 1 All-State team. He scored 50 points in a game against Kenosha Tremper and reached 30 or more a dozen times that season. He was named Southeast Conference Player of the Year.

After a prep season at Scotland Campus in Pennsylvania, Ozier signed with Sacred Heart, a Division I program in Fairfield, Connecticut. He led the Pioneers in scoring as a freshman and was named to the Northeast Conference All-Rookie team, then earned All-NEC honors the following season. He transferred to the University of Louisiana Monroe, where he started 24 of 28 games as a junior in 2021-22 and averaged 11.2 points. He majored in communications.

Koreem Ozier: ‘He wasn’t just someone who played basketball’

Ron Tatum, chief executive officer of the Racine Kenosha Community Action Agency, said Ozier went on to play basketball overseas and stayed connected to younger players in Racine while he did.

Tatum said Ozier mentored his grandson, Zare Gwinn, who plays basketball for Racine Park High School. Ozier checked on the teenager, encouraged him and bought him shoes, Tatum said.

“He wasn’t just someone who played basketball — he was someone who used his journey through basketball to connect with, encourage, and look out for others,” Tatum wrote in a statement posted to Facebook and provided to the Racine County Eye.

“He was someone who understood the importance of pouring into the younger generation, and he was always open to being mentored while continuing his own journey,” Tatum said. “He allowed me and many others to pour into him.”

“Today, we lost a Racine legend in so many ways beyond the basketball court,” Tatum wrote. “His impact was bigger than a game, bigger than statistics, and bigger than anything that could be measured on a basketball court.”

Ozier was a father, according to Tatum, who asked that the community give the family room to grieve.

“Let this family grieve,” he wrote. “Let them mourn their son, brother, father, and loved one with dignity, privacy, and the support of a community that cares.”

The mayor’s statement

Racine Mayor Cory Mason mourned Ozier’s death in a statement posted to Facebook.

“No words can make sense of the loss of Koreem Ozier, a beloved member of our Racine community,” Mason wrote. “As we mourn this tremendous loss, I ask that we support one another, care for one another, and honor Koreem’s memory peacefully.”

Mason said Racine is a close-knit community where “a death like this feels so close and so personal,” and that the city needs “time to grieve, space to heal, and all of us working together to break this cycle of violence and trauma.”

“It is my hope that the person responsible is caught quickly and that the justice system can bring some measure of peace and closure to all those who are mourning,” he wrote.

What we don’t know

Who shot Ozier, whether the two men knew each other, what the altercation was about, and whether anyone has been arrested. Police have not released a description of the man.

What we’ll check next

We have asked the Racine Police Department whether anyone is in custody and whether a suspect description can be released. We will report the answers. We will check back with investigators on Monday, Sept. 28.

Racine police investigators are seeking information or video related to the shooting. Anyone with information is asked to call the Investigations Unit at (262) 635-7756. Those wishing to remain anonymous can contact Crime Stoppers at (262) 636-9330 or through the P3 Tips app.