WISCONSIN RAPIDS − A 21-year-old woman pleaded not guilty May 26 to endangering safety with a gun.
Alexia A. M. Wolf, of Wisconsin Rapids, pleaded not guilty to first-degree recklessly endangering safety and pointing a firearm at another person. Wood County Circuit Judge Emily Nolan-Plutchak found enough evidence during a preliminary hearing Tuesday morning for the case to move forward.
Wolf’s next court appearance is scheduled for July 31. She currently is free on a $5,000 signature bail.
According to the criminal complaint, at 10:43 p.m. April 18, a Wisconsin Rapids officer responded to a report of a gunshot in the 2300 block of Second Avenue South in Wisconsin Rapids. Four women met the officer at a service station.
One of the women told the officer her name was on the lease for the rental of a home where she had belongings, according to the complaint. The woman said she contacted Wolf and another woman living at the house to arrange to get her belongings. She and the three women she was with were in a vehicle following a vehicle with Wolf and the other roommate to the house on Second Avenue South.
The woman said Wolf’s vehicle slowed when entering a roundabout at the intersection of 17th Avenue South and Gaynor Avenue. The woman said Wolf flashed a gun at her, according to the complaint. When the four women got to the house, Wolf and the other roommate were already there and inside.
The women began yelling at each other until someone inside the house fired a shot, according to the complaint. The women outside told the officer they thought the shot had been fired at them. They left the house and went to the service station where they met the officer.
Neighbors told officers about hearing the women arguing and the gunshot, according to the complaint. One man said he saw the flash when the gun was fired and thought the person shot it in the air. Another man said he also saw the flash from the gun, but he thought it was fired at the women outside.
Wolf told the officer she had been working on changing the lease to remove the other woman’s name from it. She said the women came and were pounding on her door. Wolf said she had been scared and thought the women were going to harm her, according to the complaint.
Wolf said she got the gun, went to a bedroom window and fired what she called a “warning shot,” according to the complaint. Wolf said she fired toward a wooded area and did not intend to hit anyone with the shot. Wolf said she had bought the gun legally when she turned 21 and had a concealed carry permit.
The officer talked with Wolf’s current roommate who said that the former roommate had been driving by the house several times, revving her engine on April 18. She said she and Wolf decided to go for a drive around Wisconsin Rapids. The current roommate said there was a BB gun in the car, but she did not see Wolf point it at anyone, according to the complaint.
Contact Karen Madden kmadden@usatodayco.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33.
This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: Wisconsin Rapids woman pleads not guilty to firing gun during argument
Reporting by Karen Madden, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune / Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune
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