Koval: 10th homicide a “cold, brutal assassination”

One person dead, another taken to hospital

Site staff by Site Contributor

Madison police said two masked men were responsible for the latest shooting that left one man dead and another man wounded after a shooting at the 7-Eleven gas station on the 2000 block of West Beltline highway.

Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said the shooting happened just after midnight Wednesday.

“This was a cold, brutal assassination,” Koval said. “That’s how targeted it was.”

Koval said a 33-year-old African-American man was pronounced dead at the scene, and a 29-year old man was taken to the hospital with numerous gunshot wounds below his waist line. Koval said that man should survive, but will need numerous surgeries to recover.

Koval said he credits an officer on the scene with saving the second victim’s life. “The officer had the training to apply a tourniquet, which probably saved his life,” said Koval.

This is Madison’s 10th homicide in 2017.

Koval did say businesses in the area got good surveillance video of the incident, which should help police in their search for suspects. “The images shared with me are absolutely grotesque,” said Koval. “It shows how calculated, and despicable it is.”

“The only comfort I have, is that I am fact certain, that the suspect and the victim knew each other,” said Koval.

Koval said he doesn’t believe any of the homicides that have happened in the city over the past 10 days are connected. He said that makes addressing the latest rash of homicides in the city difficult.

“If this was as easy as saying this was a gang problem, it would be real easy to address,” said Koval.

But Koval said there will be added police presence, and officers will be making more targeted stops in an effort to stem the violence. “People think there’s a green light here and they can do these activities with impunity,” said Koval. “We have to stem the idea that you can do something so horrible and get away with it.”

Officials say the suspect is not in custody and they are still investigating.

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