Accused I-43 shooter fired at coworkers, prosecutors say
A man charged in a shooting on I-43 had just been fired from his job and was shooting at his coworkers in another vehicle, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.
Jonathan D. Perez-Perez, 24, was driving a black Toyota Corolla when he fired a single shot into a Ford Explorer, grazing the driver and wounding the 52year-old passenger in the finger and thigh, the complaint says.
Perez-Perez made his first court appearance Tuesday on charges of first-degree reckless injury and first-degree recklessly endangering safety, both by use of a dangerous weapon. According to the criminal complaint: The men in the Ford Explorer had left their workplace in Brown Deer at the end of their shift on Friday and were driving in heavy freeway traffic when they noticed the black car driven by Perez-Perez.
The 43-year-old driver told detectives he saw Perez-Perez pull a chrome gun and fire one shot. The bullet grazed the driver and nearly severed the passenger’s finger before going through his left thigh.
Perez-Perez had been fired from his job earlier that day, the driver said.
The shooting occurred shortly before 5 p.m. Friday on southbound I-43 between Hampton Ave. and W. Capitol Drive. Part of the southbound freeway was shut down for more than three hours during the afternoon commute while deputies looked for evidence.
A passenger in the car with Perez-Perez later went to a Milwaukee police station and told investigators she saw Perez-Perez, her boyfriend and co-worker, fire one shot toward the other vehicle.
Perez-Perez was arrested by a task force Monday, one day after the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office released his name and photo.
In 2012, Perez-Perez was caught with a .40-caliber gun under his seat when he was a passenger in a friend’s car. He told a Milwaukee police officer he paid $70 for the gun less than two weeks before and he put it under the seat when he was picked up by his friend, according to a criminal complaint.
Perez-Perez was charged with misdemeanor carrying a concealed weapon, but the case was dismissed after his lawyer argued the stop and search were illegal and therefore the gun, a key piece of evidence, could not be used in court. Judge Lindsey Grady agreed and, without the gun, prosecutors moved to dismiss the case.