A 62-year-old Wisconsin man was taken into custody as a murder suspect after a shooting on May 8. The shooting occurred around 10 p.m., and the man killed was his 64-year-old neighbor on whom he had previously taken out a restraining order that was due to expire at the end of 2022.
A culvert and a road were among the issues the two disagreed over, but the issues appeared to have escalated. When the man went to get the restraining order in 2018, he said that his neighbor had labeled a rock with his name and and placed some boots under it. The neighbor denied that he had harassed the man, but the man said he was worried about his health because of a heart condition. A judge found that there were reasonable grounds to find that unprovoked harassment had taken place.
According to authorities, emergency medical personnel and law enforcement were called to the scene shortly after the shooting occurred. There were no other details about what caused the shooting to happen, but a reconstructionist from the Wisconsin State Patrol and people from the Wisconsin Department of Justice crime lab are involved in the investigation. The man did not seem to have a criminal history. An autopsy was scheduled as well as a court appearance for the man.
When people are charged with violent crimes, they may want to discuss a strategy for defense with an attorney. In a case like this one, the person might be able to argue that the shooting was self-defense. This could be an adequate defense in some cases while in other cases it might lead to reduced charges, such as manslaughter. Another option might be a plea bargain, which usually involves a person pleading guilty to lesser charges and getting a lighter sentence.