Shots fired into Waukesha apartment, 3 men charged

WAUKESHA, Wis. - After charging one man already, Waukesha County prosecutors have now filed charges against two other men after shots were fired into an apartment in January.

Men charged

In court:

Court records show 18-year-old Dominic Doran and 19-year-old Santos Rodriguez are charged with two counts each of first-degree recklessly endangering safety and one count each of discharging a firearm from a vehicle toward a building.

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Kaden Hoefler, 19, was already charged with two counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety. Prosecutors said one of the targets of the gunfire was his ex-girlfriend.

Doran and Rodriguez are each being held in the Waukesha County Jail on $100,000 bond. Hoefler is being held on $10,000 bond.

Shots fired investigation

The backstory:

It unfolded near Wisconsin and Maple on the night of Jan. 29. Detectives recovered numerous bullet casings on the ground, and a criminal complaint said they noted numerous bullet holes in the window of an apartment.

The resident of the apartment was not home at the time, but two other people were inside at the time and spoke to police. One of those people contacted Doran for a ride home, and court filings said a detective told Doran over the phone that he would need to pick the victim up at another location due to the crime scene. When the detective asked what type of vehicle he was in, Doran said he was in a red truck – then went silent for "approximately thirty seconds" before the call ended.

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Surveillance video from around the time the shots were fired showed a red truck circling the block "four or five times," according to the complaint. The same truck stopped in the vicinity of where the bullet casings were later found.

As the scene investigation continued into the early morning of Jan. 30, court filings said police learned Doran was "almost" there to pick up the victim. Detectives then noticed a red pickup truck in a nearby parking lot. Investigators determined the truck was registered to Hoefler and approached it. Doran was in the driver's seat, and Hoefler was in the front passenger seat.

Police later took Hoefler into custody and searched his truck. Inside, the complaint said they found bullet casings and numerous BB gun pellets. The spent casings matched those found in the street outside the apartment building.

Police ultimately arrested Doran and Rodriguez on Feb. 2. 

Detectives learned that one of the people in the apartment was Hoefler's ex-girlfriend, and the other person was "in the same friend group" as Hoefler, Doran and Rodriguez.

Defendants in custody

What they're saying:

Prosecutors said Hoefler told police he was with Doran in Milwaukee and that Doran "wanted to mess with" the victims who were in Waukesha. He said the two of them, along with Rodriguez, then drove to Waukesha in his red pickup truck.

Hoefler said they circled the apartment building looking for lights that "matched" the ones in one of the victim's Snapchat posts from that night, court filings said. He said Doran was driving and had a rifle and, when they believed they found the right apartment, Doran fired several shots and drove away.

Hoefler later admitted that he fired "a couple BBs from his BB pistol" at the window as they circled the building, according to the complaint. He also said he "did not think Doran was going to shoot a real gun." 

The complaint said Doran told police that he and Rodriguez were in Milwaukee and Hoefler showed up "mad" because his ex-girlfriend was hanging out with the other victim. Doran said it was Hoefler's idea to "shoot up the house" where the victims were hanging out, and Hoefler asked Doran to bring a rifle.

Doran said he drove the three of them in Hoefler's truck, and Hoefler asked to stop on the way there so he could remove the license plates, according to court filings. Hoefler removed the license plates, Doran said, and they kept going – now with Rodriguez driving. Hoefler stayed in the front passenger seat, and Doran got into the backseat. 

Once they "identified their target apartment," prosecutors said Doran told police that Rodriguez asked him for the gun, and he gave it to him. He said Rodriguez then fired 10–15 shots at the apartment. They then drove several minutes away to a school paring lot, where Hoefler tried to put one of the license plates back on his truck, and back to the apartment. Doran said Hoefler then fired "a few rounds less" than Rodriguez had at the building. Doran admitted he fired two BBs from Hoefler's BB gun at the window.

Doran recalled Hoefler saying something to the effect of "he should have killed (the victim)" and that he wanted to "shoot again," the complaint said. He also said, when they were driving back to Waukesha to pick up the victim – who had called for a ride unaware of who fired the shots – Hoefler "got angry" when Doran told the detective what kind of vehicle they were in.

Prosecutors said Rodriguez told police he "mostly agreed with" Doran's version of events, including that it was Hoefler who got angry and that it was Hoefler's idea to go from Milwaukee to Waukesha, but claimed he did not know Hoefler "intended on shooting at the apartment." He said he went along with them and, at one point, took over driving because he "did not like Doran's reckless driving."

Rodriguez said Hoefler was giving directions once they got to Waukesha and asked him to slow down while they were outside the apartment building, according to the complaint. He said Hoefler grabbed the gun and began shooting what he "thought might have been an entire magazine." Rodriguez said he then drove away to a school parking lot, where Hoefler and Doran tried to put the license plates back on the truck. He said he then drove everyone back to the apartment building, where Hoefler fired multiple shots a second time and Doran fired a BB gun.

Based on conversations after they left the scene, court filings said Rodriguez believed Hoefler was "intending on killing (the victim)" when he shot into the apartment. Rodriguez also said he let someone take the guns, but he did not know what that person did with them.

Rodriguez denied firing the gun at any point during the incident, despite Doran's certainty that it was Rodriguez who fired all the shots the first time, according to the complaint.

Crime and Public SafetyNewsWaukesha