SHEBOYGAN COUNTY (WITI) -- 23-year-old Damon Smith is facing charges in connection with a shooting that occurred on November 29th in Sheboygan.
Smith faces the following charges:
Police were dispatched to the 1100 block of S. 10th Street in Sheboygan just after 2:00 a.m. on November 29th following a report of a man who had entered a home with a gun. Police received a call from a man inside the home saying the suspect left, but there were people inside the home who had been shot.
Inside the home, police found a 25-year-old woman and a 25-year-old man suffering from gunshot wounds in the kitchen.
The male victim suffered gunshot wounds to his right firearm and two wounds to his left leg. The female victim suffered a single gunshot wound to her left thigh. The male victim was taken by ambulance to Milwaukee for surgery.
Police at the scene came upon a four-year-old girl -- the daughter of the male shooting victim. She was not harmed, and was upstairs sleeping during the shooting. She was turned over to a guardian.
A criminal complaint filed against Damon Smith says police found four handgun casings at the scene.
Police spoke with a witness, who said he and the male shooting victim were playing video games when suddenly, two black males were holding guns pointed at them. The complaint says the suspects began yelling "give me your money." The male victim yelled back, indicating he didn't have any money. The male victim was then struck in the face with the handgun, and then, the suspects grabbed the male victim, pulling him to the floor.
The complaint says the male victim resisted and pulled until he was back on the couch, and that's when a shot was fired.
The male victim asked the witness to go upstairs and check on the male victim's four-year-old daughter, sleeping upstairs, and when the witness came back downstairs, the male victim and his girlfriend were laying on the floor in the kitchen with gunshot wounds, according to the complaint.
The witness told police there were two guns involved -- guns he believed were semi-automatic handguns.
Police became suspicious -- asking the witness why he wasn't shot, with a detective indicating that the male victim's girlfriend was shot while she was in bed, under the covers. The complaint says the detective questioned the witness about why he wasn't shot, saying the witness clearly would have been a greater threat to the suspects than the female sleeping in bed.
The witness denied that he knew the suspects.
Eventually, the witness spoke with police and said he knows an individual by the nickname of "Money" -- someone he has been purchasing marijuana from for approximately 11 months. The complaint says the witness told police on the morning of the shooting, he contacted Money to purchase some marijuana, but Money had none available. The witness then contacted the male victim, who said he had some marijuana available. The witness then told Money he knew where Money could get some marijuana, and Money requested to go along with him.
The complaint indicates the male witness was picked up by Money, and they drove to the home in the 1100 block of South 10th Street. When they got to the home, the witness told police he realized a third person was in the vehicle -- a person he told police he didn't know. He referred to the man as "Dreads."
The three men were let into the home, and the complaint says the marijuana transaction was underway when the witness told police Dreads said the "bud" was bad. That's when Money and Dreads began yelling at the male victim, demanding money. Shortly thereafter, the shots were fired.
The witness told police he was simply bringing someone over to buy some marijuana -- saying if he knew someone was going to get shot, he wouldn't have done it.
The complaint indicates police took a look at the witness' cell phone records which showed a conversation between the male victim and "Money" -- with the witness explaining he was getting Money in contact with the male victim for the purpose of purchasing the marijuana.
Police spoke with the male victim, who indicated the witness was inside the house prior to the shooting -- saying the male suspects had forced their way into the home. The male victim denied that this involved a drug deal.
Police seized more than $750 from the male victim's person after he was shot.
In their investigation, police took a look at phone records pertaining to the phone number associated with "Money," and the phone was found to have pinged towers as it headed south toward Milwaukee following the shooting. Additionally, a detective identified one of the phone numbers as belonging to a woman who was with Damon Smith on November 21st, when officers conducted a field interview. During that field interview, police noted that Damon Smith has tattoos -- one of "Money" on his left arm, and one reading "MOE." "MOE" is a gang from Chicago entitled "Money Over Everything," according to the complaint.
Police spoke with two people who were able to positively identify Money as Damon Smith by taking a look at photographs. One of those people told police Damon Smith had showed her a traffic citation he got over the summer.
The complaint indicates police searched in-house records and discovered two traffic citations -- one from September and one from November. Police ran Damon Smith through an inmate locator search and found a booking photo that matched a Facebook photo that the two people had identified as Damon Smith for police.
"Money" was then positively identified as Damon Smith.
Police spoke with Damon Smith on December 9th. He told police he was at the residence on South 10th Street at the time of the shooting -- giving a description of the firearms used. Smith told police he went to the home at the direction of the witness to purchase an ounce of marijuana for $400. Smith told police when he asked the male victim for $2,000 worth of marijuana, the male victim said he would have to call his guy. That's when Smith says an acquaintance he was with took out two firearms -- pointing them at the male victim and the witness. A verbal argument ensued, and shots were fired.
The complaint says Smith denied having a firearm during the incident, saying it was his acquaintance who did the shooting.
Smith was convicted of possession of a short barreled shotgun/rifle in 2010 -- and burglary of a building or dwelling, also in 2010.
Damon Smith will be in court for his preliminary hearing on December 17th.