Trial set for suspect in 2020 shooting
By Kevin O’Brien
One of the suspects in a 2020 shooting that occurred in Abbotsford is scheduled to have a five-day jury trial at the Clark County Courthouse next month.
Carlos Ruben Santiago Gonzalez, 26, of Abbotsford faces felony charges of firstdegree attempted homicide and first-degree reckless endangerment. The charges stem from an incident on Feb. 16, 2020, when Santiago-Gonzalez and another man, Joennuel Moctezuma Torres, allegedly shot a male party at the Northside Apartments in Abbotsford.
The two suspects originally fled the scene of the shooting, but Santiago-Gonzalez later turned himself into sheriff’s deputies in Neillsville on March 19, 2020. A warrant is still out for the arrest of Moctezuma-Torres, who is believed to have fled to Puerto Rico.
The victim survived the shooting and was treated and released from Aspirus Hospital in Medford.
Surveillance cameras at the Northside Apartments captured Santiago-Gonzalez and Moctezuma-Torres leaving the scene of the shooting armed with handguns, according to a 2020 press release from the Colby-Abbotsford Police Department.
The victim was helping a friend move out of his apartment when he was allegedly shot by the two suspects. The criminal complaint does not specify a motive for the shooting, but the victim told police that the suspects had been harassing him for about two months beforehand.
Santiago-Gonzalez pled not guilty to the charges at an arraignment held last August, and a jury trial has been scheduled for April 19-23 in Neillsville.
At a motion hearing held Jan. 11, substitute Judge Scott L. Horne of La Crosse County agreed to modify Santiago- Gonzalez’s cash bond, lowering it from $100,000 to $25,000 and allowing him to be confined at home, except for work, with a GPS bracelet.
The judge also granted a motion in limine submitted by Santiago-Gonzalez’s attorney, Roberto R. Ledesma. The motion sets several parameters for the trial, such as prohibiting the prosecution from introducing any evidence of alleged criminal acts or other misconduct by the defendant, “either prior to or following the date of the alleged offense...”
The motion indicates that Santiago-Gonzalez intends to testify in his own defense at the trial, but only if the questions he faces are in regards to the two charges he currently faces.
