Shooting suspect turns himself in to police

One of the two suspects in a Feb. 16 shooting in Abbotsford is currently in the Clark County Jail after he turned himself in to the sheriff’s department on March 19.

Carlos Ruben Santiago Gonzalez, 25, of Abbotsford had been on the run since he and Joennuel Moctezuma-Torres, 22, allegedly shot a man at the Northside Apartments on Feb. 16. The victim survived the shooting and was treated and released at Aspirus Hospital in Medford.

Santiago Gonzalez has been charged withattemptedfirst-degreehomicideand first degree recklessly endangering safety. He and the other suspect were both charged as a party to the crime, as it is unclear who fired the shots at the victim.

The two men fled the scene in a Ford Explorer being driven by a female party. The vehicle was later found parked on Second Street, but the suspects were gone. Colby-Abbotsford police chief Jason Bauer said they are “99 percent sure” that the other suspect, Moctezuma-Torres, is now in Puerto Rico. The CAPD is working with the U.S. Marshals and FBI agents on the island to track him down so he can be extradited to Wisconsin to face the charges against him.

Santiago-Gonzalez appeared in Clark County Court — via video from the jail — on March 20, the day after he surrendered to police. The defendant told the court that he is being represented by attorney Roberto Ledesma, whose law office is located in Milwaukee.

According to Bauer, Santiago- Gonzalez presented a letter from his attorney stating that he would not be cooperating with police at this time.

Judge Lyndsey Brunette set a $100,000 cash bond for Santiago-Gonzalez, but it has not been posted. If he were to post the money and be released from jail, it would be on the condition that he have no contact of any kind with the victim, Moctezuma-Torres, or another male subject who was with them during the shooting. He would also be barred from leaving Wisconsin without the court’s approval.

Arrest warrants were issued for Santiago-Gonzalez and Moctezuma-Torres after a security camera captured them entering the apartment where the shooting took place and then leaving the scene while carrying handguns.

According to police reports, the victim said the two men had harassed him for about two months before the shooting, but he did not know why. The victim was helping a friend move out of one of the apartments when the shooting happened.

Santiago-Gonzalez was convicted of resisting an officer in 2015, following a fight at El Norteno Restaurant in Curtiss. Charges of battery and disorderly conduct were dismissed in that case.

If convicted of first-degree attempted homicide, each suspect faces up to 60 years in prison. If convicted on the lesser charge of reckless endangerment, they could be imprisoned for as much as 12 years and six months.

Santiago-Gonzalez is scheduled to appear in court again on May 26.