Michael Schraven was a Milwaukee auto shop owner who was murdered while driving with his wife on I-45, according to the Milwaukee County medical examiner’s and sheriff’s officers.
According to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s officer, Mike Schraven died in the off ramp of I45 near 76th Street on May 3, 2023. The ME’s report says that Schraven was shot at 8:58 a.m. at the on ramp to I-45 going southbound at Silver Spring Drive. The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office says it’s believed that Schraven was fired on from another vehicle. A female was in the vehicle with Schraven but was uninjured, the release says, adding that the motive is not yet clear. The homicide occurred on state Highway I45, near or on the off ramp, the release says.
Milwaukee County Sheriff’s spokesman James Burnett said in a press conference that authorities got a call a little after 9 a.m. that a “shooting had taken place on state Highway I45.” The vehicle description is a “bit fluid,” he said because it was a “traumatic” situation. Burnett was asked about reports that a woman was screaming at the scene that it was a road rage situation. He described it as a “vehicle to vehicle incident.” He declined to confirm reports that the woman was Schraven’s wife.
Burnett said “I’m not aware of a pre-existing relationship” between the shooter and victim. Witness Willie Dais told TMJ4 that Schraven was shot in the driver’s seat in his shoulder and back and “all his windows were shot out and everything.” He told the television station he spoke to the woman in the car: “She’s pretty shaken up pretty bad. She told us it was road rage and her husband had been shot.”
Keri Mack, a Good Samaritan who gave Schraven CPR, told TMJ4: “From the sounds of it, they were innocent and then for that man to lose his life… unfortunately God called him home.”
Burnett said he couldn’t confirm that it was a road rage incident because it was still under investigation. Windows were shot out of the vehicle. “It might ultimately be the case,” Burnett said. The suspect or suspects is still being sought, he said. Among the witnesses was a good Samaritan who was a nurse and tried to save Schraven to no avail, he said.
Schraven’s sister, Amanda, wrote on Facebook, “I’m dying inside knowing you are gone I will always remember you RIP my brother Mike Schraven you will always be in my heart my memories and in my thoughts I love and miss you so very much.”
According to Mike Schraven’s Facebook page, he was “Owner and Founder at OTW Auto Service” and “Self-Employed at mk services wi.” He went to West Allis Central, was from Milwaukee, and was married.
Schraven had a criminal history, according to court records, but authorities have given no indication it had anything to do with his death.
