botsford. Santiago Gonzalez ….

botsford.

Santiago Gonzalez turned himself into police about a month after the shooting, and was in jail for over a year before he was released on a $25,000 signature bond following the April 21 plea hearing.

A jury trial on the attempted homicide charge had initially been scheduled in April, but that was called off after the DA and Santiago Gonzalez’s defense attorney, Roberto Ledesma, reached a plea agreement.

If Santiago Gonzalez follows through on his cooperation with police, the DA said she would recommend that he get probation, which would follow 13 months in jail he has already served.

“We believe that this is a fair resolution,” Inlow told the court. “We did communicate with the victim at one point relating to the resolution. It holds Mr. Santiago Gonzalez accountable for his role in the shooting.”

The motive behind the shooting has never been discussed publicly. Shortly after it occurred, the victim told police that the defendants had been harassing him at work, but he didn’t know why.

Santiago Gonzalez was supposed to make a statement to police before the April 21 plea hearing, but according to the hearing transcript, he had not done that yet. His attorney said his client was “apprehensive at first based on the factors involved,” but he was confident that Santiago Gonzalez would, in fact, cooperate. Ledesma said his client has “a strong incentive” to return to court, as he has family ties in the area, including a wife and child. He also noted that Santiago Gonzalez has an opportunity to avoid prison time by cooperating.

The co-defendant, Moctezuma Torres, fled the area after the shooting but was eventually arrested in Puerto Rico by U.S. Marshals in March. He was returned to Wisconsin and has been in the Clark County Jail on a $250,000 bond ever since.

Moctezuma Torres has pled not guilty to charges of attempted homicide and reckless endangerment, and a status conference is slated for July 13 in his case.

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.