News

Park St. murder marks 1st of 2008

A 31-year-old Madison resident was the victim of an apparent homicide Monday afternoon when he was killed in an alley off South Park Street, just south of the University of Wisconsin campus.

The Madison Police Department received a call at 1:22 p.m. dispatching them to the alley between Madison Typewriter and Business Machines and Design Craft Advertising, according to City Council President Mike Verveer.

The area off of West Shore Drive is not usually known as a crime area, Verveer said.

“Homicides are absolutely unheard of in that part of the city,” he added.

According to the police report, the first officer to arrive on the scene immediately called Madison Fire Department for an ambulance when he saw the victim lying on the ground.

The victim was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. MPD will wait for an autopsy to decide whether to release the cause of death,

Treating the murder as a homicide, MPD established a command post at the South District where detectives and officers are currently working on the case, police said.

“Unfortunately it’s the first homicide of the year, and we’re still in January,” Verveer said. “Madison is not off to a good start.”