Wausau teen charged with attempted homicide following Wisconsin Rapids shooting
Editor’s note: The charge of attempted first-degree intentional homicide against Christopher J. Stevens was dismissed without prejudice on Jan. 30, 2024, in Wood County Circuit Court. When a charge is dismissed without prejudice, the District Attorney's Office can refile it in the future.
WISCONSIN RAPIDS – A Wausau teen is in Wood County Jail pending a $250,000 cash bail after a man was shot in the head Aug. 6 in a Wisconsin Rapids hotel parking lot.
Christopher J. Stevens, 17, is facing a charge of attempted first-degree intentional homicide. Wood County Circuit Judge Gregory Potter set the bail amount Monday. If convicted, Stevens faces a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison.
According to the criminal complaint, on Aug. 6, a caller reported a fight at the Motel 6 on Huntington Avenue in Wisconsin Rapids. An officer arrived at the motel and reported seeing a man by a vehicle and then face down on the ground. The officer saw a large amount of blood coming from the man's head.
Another officer stopped a vehicle that had been reported at the motel and Stevens was inside the vehicle with a 17-year-old girl. Stevens said the man in the parking lot of the motel pushed him in the chest and punched him. Stevens said he pushed the other man away and took out his gun, according to the complaint.
Stevens said the other man tried to tackle him and Stevens then punched the other man and the gun may have hit him, according to the complaint. Stevens said he didn't intentionally hit the man and was just trying to protect himself. An officer found the gun where Stevens had been sitting in the vehicle, according to the complaint.
The victim told police he was in his vehicle when Stevens came up to him, said he wanted the victim's money and pointed a gun at him, according to the complaint. The man said he tried to defend himself and Stevens shot him.
A detective watched surveillance video from Motel 6 and saw people, including Stevens, the girl who was with him in the car and another person approach the victim's pickup. The victim got out of the vehicle and Stevens grabbed him and tried to carry him back to his vehicle, according to the complaint. The victim fell and Stevens picked him up and took him back to his pickup, according to the complaint.
The detective saw Stevens appear upset and the victim went to the back of his pickup and attempted to get something, according to the complaint. Stevens grabbed the victim by his arms and the victim pushed Stevens away and walked away from him, according to the complaint.
Stevens then attacked the victim, tackling him to the ground and hitting him several times, according to the complaint. One of the people with Stevens broke up the two and the victim walked away. The victim ran back to his vehicle. The two continued to cause a disturbance, then Stevens walked by the victim, pointed what looked like a handgun at him and then walked inside the motel, according to the complaint.
The victim then looked like he was trying to take a picture of the license plate of the vehicle Stevens had been in, according to the complaint. Stevens came out of the motel, jogged up to the vehicle and pointed the gun at the victim's head, according to the complaint. The two then fell to the ground. The victim stayed on the ground, motionless, while Stevens got up and got in the back seat of the vehicle he came in, and the vehicle drove away.
The victim laid on the ground for a minute, then he slowly got up and stumbled to his pickup, according to the complaint.
Doctors at Marshfield Medical Center said the victim had two bullet wounds to his head. The bullet appeared to have gone into the center of the back of the man's head and then go up and to the left, traveling under the skin, until it exited.
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Contact Karen Madden at 715-345-2245 or kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KMadden715, Instagram at @kmadden715 or Facebook at facebook.com/karen.madden.33.
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This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: Wausau teen charged with attempted homicide following Rapids shooting
