Father accused of shooting his son in the arm says he just "wanted to scare him" over his drug habit

MILWAUKEE -- 61-year-old Richard Matte of Greenfield made his initial appearance in court on Friday, March 3rd. He is charged with one count of first-degree recklessly endangering safety for allegedly shooting and wounding his son.

According to the criminal complaint, Greenfield officers were called to Matte's home on February 15th for a shooting incident. When they arrived on the scene, they found Matte's 27-year-old son "sustained a gunshot wound to the right arm." Matte's son state "his father (the defendant) had come into his room while (he) was injecting heroin into his left arm; his father became angry when he saw this and pointed a gun at him." The complaint says when Matte asked whether money he had given his son was used to purchase heroin, the son said no -- that it was however used to buy marijuana.

The complaint indicates Matte then told his son "to look towards a hole in the wall, (the son) had his right arm extended with his palm facing out at which point the defendant fired one shot, striking him in the right arm."

Richard Matte

When questioned by police, Matte said he confronted his son and then "'got pissed' and took a gun out." He said "he only meant to shoot it to the side of his son and into the wall." Matte told police "he was not trying to shoot his son, but wanted to scare him."

The son is recovering from his injury.

If convicted on the charge, Matte faces up to 12-and-a-half years in prison and $25,000 in fines. Matte is due back in court for his preliminary hearing on Monday, March 13th.