Taylor Gray
MEQUON, Wis. - A Sheboygan man, convicted in a 2021 shooting at a Mequon Kwik Trip, has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
Taylor Gray, 23, pleaded no contest in August to first-degree recklessly endangering safety and endangering safety by reckless use of a firearm. He was also sentenced to eight years of extended supervision.
Police responded to the Kwik Trip on Cedarburg Road near Donges Bay Road on June 15, 2021 and spoke with a man whose car window had been broken by a gunshot. A spent .45 caliber bullet casing was found laying on the pavement near an entrance to the store.
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According to prosecutors, the victim said he entered the parking lot and saw a black car "driving fast" through the lot. He said he sped up to avoid hitting that vehicle and "looked at the driver." At that point, the driver of the black vehicle, identified by prosecutors as Gray, got out of his vehicle and said: "What the (expletive) are you going do to about it?" Gray then pointed a handgun at the man and fired one shot, the complaint states, before leaving the lot.
The complaint notes that surveillance video helped investigators to "clearly see the man who fired the shot." They learned the suspect vehicle was registered to a home in Brown Deer, and the owners advised it was being driven by their son, Gray, who lived and worked in Sheboygan County.
Shooting at Mequon Kwik Trip (June 2021)
Investigators found Gray at work. When they made contact with him, he asked: "Is this about the shooting in Mequon? It was self-defense. I thought he had a gun." Prosecutors said Gray admitted to firing at the man because "he thought the driver...was reaching for something near his waist." Prosecutors also said Gray did not have a valid concealed carry permit.
Gray initially told investigators he threw the gun in the lake, but later admitted it was behind his refrigerator in Sheboygan, where a search warrant was executed, according to the complaint.