One of two men connected with a shooting last month that injured four victims at a gas station on Madison’s East side was charged Wednesday on $150,000 bail.
Claude D. Knight, 28, of Chicago, Ill., was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment in connection with the incident, which occurred at the BP gas station on East Washington Avenue in late February. The U.S. Marshals’ Task Force initially took Knight into custody following the incident and he was apprehended in Chicago on a warrant.
Dane County Court Commissioner Jason Hanson ordered Knight the bail requirement due to his lack of ties to Madison and extradition from Illinois, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
The second suspect in the shooting, 22-year-old Christopher L. Sommersett of Madison, is being held at the Dane County Jail and will be tentatively charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, MPD Public Information Officer Joel DeSpain said in an incident report.
The Feb. 19. incident occurred around 3 a.m. Multiple vehicles were speeding out of the gas station parking lot when MPD officers arrived at the scene, where they found more than 20 bullet cases.
All four victims went to local emergency rooms, where one required surgery for a gunshot wound to his lower abdomen, according to the State Journal. The other three did not have life-threatening injuries.
“MPD Violent Crimes Unit detectives believe the shootings may be gang-related, and because of that the MPD's Gang Unit is also working this case,” DeSpain said. “The shootings do not appear to be random and it is thought that those involved are familiar with one another."
