Tuesday night, a man suffered a non-life-threatening injury in a presumed targeted shooting near Brittingham Park.
The Madison Police Department responded to a call of shots fired in the area, where a woman flagged them down to a parked car.
The woman was in the driver’s seat when the shots began and jumped out when she realized the shots were being fired at her car. The shooter directly shot at the man on the passenger side, who was injured in the shoulder.
According to MPD spokesman Joel DeSpain, the shooting was not an accident.
“Whoever was shooting was specifically shooting at the passenger,” DeSpain said.
MPD is still looking for the suspect in the shooting, who is described as an African American man with a slender build. He was seen wearing dark clothing at the time of the incident.
This case is not a unique one for Madison recently, as DeSpain said there is a distinct rise in the number of shots fired in Madison over the past couple years.
“Fortunately, in the number of these cases where it could clearly turn out to be a homicide, we have a lot of cases where we are thankful that the person who was shot at or involved has not been killed,” DeSpain said. “That was the case here. With the number of bullets that were shot into the passenger side of the car, thankfully the person was not killed.”
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In addition to the injured man, some of the rounds went through the parked car and hit another car behind it. There was nobody in that car at the time, but DeSpain said it was damaged.
While dangerous, DeSpain believes this case is not a danger to the University of Wisconsin campus.
“I don’t think the shooting has an effect of the campus, other than students who might live in the area,” DeSpain said. “It was not near the residence halls or campus housing at all. The man who was shot was not connected with the university at all.”
MPD is currently investigating to find out more information on the case as soon as possible. The injured man was taken to the hospital where he was treated for the wound.
