MADISON — Newly unsealed court documents indicate state agents thought they heard shots before they opened fire during a traffic stop that left a Black man wounded.
Quadren Wilson’s family says law enforcement officers shot Wilson five times after they stopped his car in Madison on Feb. 3 and tried to arrest him on a drug violation. Wilson survived his wounds.
The Dane County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident. The office has said Wilson wasn’t armed and two state Justice Department agents fired their weapons. The sheriff’s office has not said their rounds struck Wilson, however.
The Wisconsin State Journal reported that three search warrants in the case were unsealed Thursday in Dane County Circuit Court. In an affidavit attached to one of them William Hendrickson, a Dane County Sheriff's detective, wrote that agents thought someone was firing at them from Wilson's vehicle as they approached it. Hendrickson said one of the agent's ballistic shields showed damage that could have been caused by a projectile.
The documents confirmed that Wilson wasn't armed.
Wilson's attorney, Stephen Eisenberg, told the newspaper that the documents prove Wilson wasn't armed or engaging in any violent behavior. As he has since the shooting took place, he again questioned why more than two dozen law enforcement officers were involved in the traffic stop.
