Police: Two men charged with September shooting death of Altoona man
Oct. 28—EAU CLAIRE — Two Eau Claire men have been implicated in the September shooting death of an Altoona man at Bergen and Bellevue avenues in Eau Claire, police say.
The shooting occurred following arguments at various taverns. The Altoona man was shot while he was a passenger in a car, police said.
Michael B. Purnell, 32, 2613 Skeels Ave., and Xavier M. Thompson, 34, 728 Gilbert St., were each charged Friday in Eau Claire County Court with felony counts of first-degree intentional homicide and discharging a firearm from a vehicle toward a building or another vehicle, and two felony counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety. All the charges are as a party to a crime.
Purnell also faces a felony count of eluding an officer.
Arrest warrants have been issued for both Purnell and Thompson.
The victim has been identified as Christopher Conner, 39.
According to the criminal complaint:
Eau Claire police were called to a shooting that occurred at 12:12 a.m. on Sept. 17 in the 500 block of Bergen Avenue.
Officers arrived to find Conner lying on the ground. A person was providing aid to Conner.
Officers saw a gunshot wound to Conner's back, just below the shoulder blade. Conner was taken to Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire, where he was pronounced dead. The bullet had struck his heart.
Directly south of Conner's body on Bergen Avenue, officers found a white Chevrolet Malibu that appeared to have crashed into the tree line. There were holes in the rear of the car consistent with bullet holes. The rear windshield was also shattered.
A man approached police and said the white car was his and that somebody had shot at him. The man said he jumped out of his vehicle and ran because he was scared. The man said he was with Conner, his friend, and they were being chased by another vehicle and that Conner had been shot.
Officers canvassed the area of the shooting. A shell casing was found on Bergen Avenue, just north of Bellevue Avenue. Eight additional shell casings were found on Bellevue Avenue, east of Bergen Avenue.
After examining the white Chevrolet Malibu, police found a bullet hole in the trunk and additional bullet holes in two boxes that were inside the trunk. A bullet also appeared to have struck the bumper.
Officers determined that the bullet that likely shattered the rear window would have gone downward after impact.
The interior of the passenger compartment had no bullet damage.
Police identified Purnell as a suspect. Police found his vehicle at 4:13 a.m. on Sept. 17 on Skeels Avenue in the town of Washington.
Purnell entered the vehicle at 5:21 a.m. and led police on a pursuit through Eau Claire and Chippewa counties that exceeded speeds of 100 mph. Purnell was taken into custody after he lost a tire during the pursuit.
The owner of the white Chevrolet Malibu told police he and Conner had been out together and got into an argument with some people at an Eau Claire tavern. When they left, the man said three cars began following them. At one point, he said shots were then fired at his car.
After interviewing several witnesses, police identified Purnell and Thompson as the primary suspects.
Thompson is being prosecuted as a repeat offender. He was convicted of a felony count of bail jumping in March in Chippewa County.
