Driver kills toddler, is shot dead in Milwaukee

Archie Brown Jr. was driving to Home Depot on Sunday with a friend when he hit and killed a 2-year-old with his van, his family said.

Moments later, he lay dying, shot in the head as he tried to help the child, according to family members. A 15-year-old boy who was also shot later died at a hospital, Milwaukee police say.

"He was a good man," Brown's sister, Qianna Brown, 34, told the Los Angeles Times on Monday. Brown, 41, had four daughters; his youngest is 6 months old, she said. He would often round up his children and hers and take them out - to state fairs, on shopping trips, or to the park. "He was a tender-hearted person, so I know he was there and probably wanted to pick the baby up. I know he must have been crying."

According to police, the 2-year-old ran into the street and was struck about 5:10 p.m. Sunday. Brown stayed on the scene, according to a news release from the Milwaukee Police Department, which called the traffic situation an accident.

Moments later, police said, Brown and the boy, were both shot. Brown was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police say that they had no suspects in custody, and that the investigation was continuing. Police and coroner's officials declined to identify the 2-year-old or either of the people who were shot, but family members identified Brown, of Milwaukee, as the driver.

Brown's father, Archie Brown Sr., said that at the scene, he spoke to police, who showed him a photo of his son's body and told him he had been shot "more than once."

"It was terrible," Brown's father told the Times. "I'm sorry about what happened to the other family, too. ... But nobody wins in that situation."

Qianna Brown said a witness told her family that after her brother hit the toddler, a man went into a house, retrieved a gun, then shot Brown in the head. Brown said she does not know who the 15-year-old victim was, or whether he was in the van with Brown at the time.