From our content partner Channel3000.com:
Police have ruled a shooting that happened on State Street on Wednesday an accident.
A woman was shot after she got into an SUV belonging to someone coming to pick her up. Police said they have arrested the shooter.
Though the city of Madison has been focused on preventing crime on State Street, Madison Police Department spokesman Joel Despain said this incident doesn’t fall under the same umbrella.
“This was someone getting picked up here,” Despain said. “This wasn’t a situation where there was a problem on State Street that rose to the point of gunfire. What we have is someone who was getting in to get a ride from somebody that she knows, and a gun goes off.”
Ashley Morrison, the owner of nearby shop Vom Fass, had a similar perspective.
“It could have happened anywhere,” he said. “This shouldn’t really be a bad mark on State Street or even just downtown Madison.”
He said the area if safe and most crime he hears about happens when most of the shops are closed. For the most part, he said the area is only getting better.
“I think we’re on the right track at the top of State,” Morrison said. “So I think that from that standpoint we just need to keep doing what we’re doing.”
Sam Brown lives near where the shooting happened, though he moved out the same day. He said he saw police speed down the road, pull out their guns and tell him to get back inside while he was bringing things down to the curb.
“This definitely tops the charts of the craziest thing that happened while I lived on State Street,” Brown said.
He said crime isn’t uncommon for the area, but it isn’t any part of why he is moving.
“Things like this happen,” he said.
