For the first time since the initial report describing the Saturday morning events outside the Towers, 502 N. Francis St., the Madison Police Department released details concerning the ongoing investigation, including the fact that football players were involved in the incident.
The altercation, which began with vandalism of mopeds and ended with two shots being fired, left no one injured except for one Towers resident who was hit by a piece of ricochet, according to Acting Public Information Officer Carlos Valentin.
Valentin identified the athletes involved in the altercation as the victims of the crime.
\[The suspects] might have been antagonizing some of the victims'meaning the players [who had] their moped knocked down'they were trying to incite people to beat them up,"" he said, adding that the MPD is working with the UW-Madison Police Department. ""The UW-Madison police [are] helping us by inquiring directly with football players who might have been involved.""
Valentin described the suspects as up to four black individuals.
The information in the report agrees with the description a UW-Madison sophomore Towers resident gave of the vehicle that left the Langdon Street area following a similar incident Wednesday morning.
""They drove away in a new Honda Accord,"" she said.
The hectic situation that immediately followed the shots has made it difficult to get a congruent story, according to Valentin.
""The fact that there was gun fire, that made the situation more chaotic, and so peoples' recollections ... have conflicting information,"" he said.
Despite the multiple story lines the police have received, Valentin said he wanted to make sure the athletes were not the antagonizers in this event.
""At this point, some athletes were victims,"" he said.
Steve Malchow, UW-Madison assistant athletics director, who also oversees communication for the Athletics Department, did not return calls made to his office as of press time.
