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911 call reports junior was shot
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Also by Cara Harshman:
- UW student's killer forced way into home, police say (April 11, 2008)
- Minors having harder time buying smokes in Madison (April 10, 2008)
- County urges road safety (April 10, 2008)
Related Stories:
- Police focus on transients for homicide clues (April 4, 2008)
- UW junior found dead in Doty Street home; killer still at large (April 3, 2008)
- Students pay respect to homicide victim (April 7, 2008)
- University of Maryland shooting leaves one dead, one wounded (April 28, 2003)
- University lends help to those affected by homicide (April 3, 2008)
by Cara Harshman
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Dane County released a transcript Wednesday of the 911 call Brittany Zimmermann’s boyfriend made upon finding the University of Wisconsin junior dead in her Doty Street home.
According to the Dane County 911 call log for April 2, UW student Jordan Gonnering called 911 at 1:08 p.m. and said his girlfriend had been shot.
“Gfriend been shot! 21-year-old, female, unconscious, not breathing. 1. She has received a gunshot wound,” the transcript said.
According to a source close to the investigation, speaking on condition of anonymity, police said Zimmermann was actually stabbed and not shot.
“Seeing his girlfriend laying in a pool of blood… he would probably think she was shot,” the source said.
Dane County Coroner John Stanley reported the cause of death last week as a “complexity of traumatic injuries.”
The coroner is not releasing specific details in the cause of death, as the investigation is ongoing.
MPD Public Information Officer Joel DeSpain said in the course of the investigation police have tried to identify a variety of individuals who were in and around the crime scene at the time of the murder but have not singled out a suspect or suspects.
“At this point, this investigation hasn’t started down one particular path yet,” DeSpain said.
Homicide cases like those of Zimmermann and Joel Marino, a man who was stabbed in his South Shore Drive home late January, are the hardest to solve, DeSpain said.
“Their associations, acquaintances, friends, family and behavior don’t indicate anything as why someone would want to harm them,” DeSpain said.
DeSpain added that police are trying to “beat the bush” and talk to everyone they can find, including the increasing transient population in downtown Madison, particularly the West Washington Avenue corridor near Brittingham Park.
Cieslewicz unveils proposed changes to Brittingham Park
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz announced a plan to improve Brittingham Park on Wednesday, including possibly banning “chronic offenders” causing trouble in the area between West Washington Avenue and Monona Bay.
City Council President Mike Verveer, District 4, said the transient presence has been an issue in Brittingham Park for years.
While Verveer said the plans to improve the park did not stem from the Zimmermann or Marino homicides, they come just as police have targeted the transient population for questioning concerning the unsolved murders.
In association with Ald. Julia Kerr, District 13, the mayor proposed a plan to improve the quality of life in the park where many Madison residents are wary to go because of the chronic alcoholics who reside there, Verveer said.
Capitol Centre Market on North Broom Street and Kelley’s Market on West Washington Avenue also announced Wednesday they will immediately stop selling four-packs of high alcohol content beer that cost around $2, Verveer added.
Verveer said many homeless people would purchase these four-packs and drink them in Brittingham Park.
“Neighbors were reporting to me that they were no longer patronizing [Kelley’s Market] because they were sick of being hassled by chronic alcoholics,” he said.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 9:12am):
so sad. my heart goes out to Brittany, her family and friends. I am away from Madison right now, but I feel the pain of everyone still there.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 11:26am):
talking to the increasing TRANSIENT population is just a sophisticated way of saying that the police are profiling based on social class, singling out the homeless people for NO other reason than that they are homeless.
granted, some transients struggle with alcoholism and some are violent, but the SAME is true of the college student population!
to anyone who is thinking this is a good, just idea....how would you react if the madison police came up to you on the street unwarranted, asking you questions about brittany zimmerman's murder?
it is a DISGUSTING manifestation of our government's power
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 12:22pm):
I'm glad to hear that Kelley's is not going to sell that crap anymore. There's drunk bums in there all the time counting out nasty pocketfuls of change for those 4-packs. I could probably count about 50 plastic can rings between my apartment (1 block away) and Kelley's, where they just throw them on the ground.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 12:27pm):
innnteresting.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 1:23pm):
Yeah, these bums are no different than college kids. Please. The differences between transients and the rest of us go much further than how much money we have. These people (yes, I said "these people" to describe bums-deal with it) are mentally unstable and don't really have anything to lose, which makes them very dangerous. Start living in the real world.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 1:31pm):
all of you idiots act like the police target the homeless for every crime. there's always evidence and information the public doesn't know so stop bitching and moaning, there's a lot you don't know.
frank rojas (April 10, 2008 @ 1:32pm):
The government should keep after these worthless scum transients until the get on the bus and leave town. They do nothing good for the city and are a blight on the downtown area. The sooner they are gone the better.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 1:53pm):
Yeah, they are profiling, and I don't have a problem with it. If the evidence points out that it could have been a homeless person, wouldn't it make sense to start questioning the homeless!? Of course they aren't releasing information, so all we can do is speculate. There have been a string of closely-related murders, and it's time to put an end to it, let the police do their job and stop protecting people just because they're poor. I lived a block from Doty last year and Kelley's is just how it's described above.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 2:13pm):
"four-packs of high alcohol content beer that cost around $2"
Now you gone and done it - that place will be crawling with students. Fact is, I gotta go, BRB!
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 2:39pm):
stop profiling the panhandling drunks as dangerous.. they're car broke down and they need change for the bus
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 3:31pm):
To all the people that are up in arms about police "profiling" ....would you rather the police just sat and did nothing. I honestly do not think they are doing it to profile the homeless but at this point in time it's probably all they have left. If you have such an issue with them targeting homeless people why don't you start an organization that helps get them off the street so they aren't targeted.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 3:31pm):
Holla back 1:23PM comment. "Singling out the homeless people for NO other reason than that they are homeless." Yeah, I'm sure this had NOTHING to do with the numerous probation violations, law offenses, and unstable mentalities, etc. that are present in the transient population in the downtown area.
I don't know about you, but I don't get hassled for money when walking down the street by college students. Why is it that these bums that line State Street would prefer you give them cash instead of providing a meal that they claim not to have? Maybe because some of them are the same individuals you see taking those handouts and buying a 6-pack at Riley's. Here's an idea: get a job like the rest of us and support your own alcohol addiction.
This isn't a matter of profiling social classes to find a murderer. This is a matter of addressing issues that should have been taken care of years ago. It just so happens that there were many people of the transient community in that area during the time of the crime.
Take your cry for social justice elsewhere and get a grip on reality. I know this is a liberal university, but this is ridiculous. Your protests are NOT needed here.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 3:32pm):
Wasn't the person in the Joel Marino case NOT a bum, but a thin guy in his early 20s with blond or brown hair, 6 feet tall, wearing a brown jacket, grey backpack, and a motion W cap, where the backpack and cap were found with blood whose DNA matched that of a knife found at the crime scene? Makes me wonder why they are targeting the bums when they could be targeting us instead, or at least the male half of the college crowd. I'm not advocating police intrusion of privacy for either the bums OR us, but I don't think we should go about blaming transients just because they are a much more comfortable target.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 4:56pm):
Yes, but that description was provided by a crazy bum.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 5:26pm):
look- other cities just dont allow panhandling- madison is starting to crack down on it. don't like it, change the laws. there's nothing wrong with talking to transients to see if they know anything. they also "profiled" people that lived around her, questioning them, too.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 5:26pm):
are you fucking kidding me? The homeless are scum, of course they are being profiled. Even mentally handicapped people get jobs. Those drunks are the cause of a lot of problems in madison. It's you liberals that are giving those douche bags money all the time that keep them around, and then someone gets killed and you try to blame the police for profiling? You should be profiled as a complete moron
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 6:16pm):
Yes, the suspect in the Marino case is as you described above. However, apparently the police have significant evidence to believe that the suspect in the murder of one of our fellow UW students apparently is. The fact that the Marino murder suspect doesn't fit the bum profile has no significance. We're talking about Brittany Zimmerman's murder, not the Marino murder.
Anonymous (April 10, 2008 @ 10:33pm):
5:26, I didn't realize there were such heartless people in this city. First off, many of the homeless ARE mentally handicapped and yet our society continues to ignore them. Also, it's hard enough for people with no educational background to land a job, much less people who can't put any residence or previous job experience on an application. Some people are born into this lifestyle, others are people recently released from prison and veterans who can't re-associate into society. Spending money isn't to "keep them around," it's to keep them alive and give them a chance.
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