'It felt surreal:' 2 narrowly escaped injury when brothers allegedly unloaded barrage of bullets
Christopher Meadows
MILWAUKEE -- A Milwaukee woman spoke out Sunday, Dec. 15, exactly one week after she and her passenger narrowly escaped injury when a barrage of bullets hit their vehicle near 46th Street and State Street on Dec. 8. Charges were filed Thursday, Dec. 12 against two Milwaukee brothers, and prosecutors said their mother witnessed the crime. One of them shouldn't have had a gun in the first place because he's a convicted felon. As of Friday, he remained at large.
"We didn't know anything was going to happen," said Monique Wollersheim. "We got there and gunfire started, and all we could say to each other was, 'We're being shot at.'"
Wollersheim said she was driving her daughter's boyfriend to pick up his child from a home in the area. The vehicle had barely come to a stop when shots were fired by two men.
Gregory Meadows, 27, faces two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, mandatory minimum, repeat firearm crimes, as party to a crime, and one count of possession of a firearm by a person convicted of an out-of-state felony, mandatory minimum, repeat firearm crimes.
Christopher Meadows, 20, faces two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, as party to a crime -- two counts.
According to a criminal complaint, investigators found 35 casings at the scene -- 21 from a rifle, and 14 from a .40 caliber weapon.
Shots fired near 46th and State
Monique Wollersheim
The vehicle was found with approximately 20 bullet strikes, and four of the six windows were shot out. One bullet strike was just four inches away from the front passenger headrest.
"I just froze," said Wollersheim. "I felt like because I was sitting and in the driver's seat, really had nowhere to go, and then I didn't, per se, know what to do. I was just there, and hearing the shots, seeing him pulling, pointing the gun at the car, all I did was sit there and it was like I was in a movie."
Prosecutors said the brothers' mother, who was standing on the porch and witnessed the incident, told investigators the passenger in the vehicle had been there earlier looking for his child, and she wanted him to leave, and he did. She said when her sons heard he was coming back, Gregory Meadows grabbed a handgun, and when he saw the vehicle pull up, he went outside to confront the occupants. She said when they parked, the passenger got out and shouted something. That's when she said Christopher Meadows exited the home with a rifle, and both began firing. Gregory Meadows then fled in a vehicle, while Christopher came back inside -- where investigators recovered a rifle.
Shots fired incident near 46th and State
In addition to the victims' vehicle being riddled with bulletholes, four parked vehicles were also hit by the gunfire, and a neighbor found a .40 caliber round that ended up coming through his wall, the complaint said.
Investigators spoke with Christopher Meadows, who said he heard the passenger in the vehicle that was fired at was "a bad guy," but said he never saw the driver or passenger with weapons, prosecutors said.
"It felt surreal," said Wollersheim. "I still picture his face, shooting at the car. I don't feel like -- I haven't fully processed it yet."
Shots fired near 46th and State
Gregory Meadows in 2014 was convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon and assault to law enforcement officer/police officer/other with a firearm in North Carolina, and sentenced to serve 23 to 40 months in prison.
A warrant was issued for his arrested Dec. 12 in connection with this shots fired incident.
Christopher Meadows made his initial appearance in court on Friday, Dec. 13. Cash bond was set at $10,000, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Dec. 23.