By Bruce Vielmetti
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — A man whose drunken shotgun attack on a house in May caused an occupant’s fatal heart attack was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison.
Early on May 16, Justin L. Owen went to the 2700 block of N. 16th St. and fired nine rounds from a sawed-off shotgun at the house, breaking 16 windows, according to court records.
No one inside was hit, but the shots woke Marzella Woodson, 58, who grabbed her three young grandchildren and huddled on the floor until the shooting stopped. She began to sweat, couldn’t breathe and died of a heart attack that a medical examiner said was caused by her emotional response to the assault. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Dennis Cimpl told Owen, 21, he was not the kind of defendant he usually sees in such cases. But even though Owen didn’t intend to kill anyone, he must do serious prison time, Cimpl said.
“Only by the grace of God were more people not wounded or killed,” the judge said.
After shooting Woodson’s house, Owen went to another friend’s house and fired six shots there as well.
The shootings followed a night of drinking that ended with one of Owen’s two companions running off with his handgun.
Seeking revenge, Owen went home, grabbed his sawed-off shotgun, put on a ski mask and went to where he thought the thief would be, at Woodson’s.
But he wasn’t there.
“You say you needed the pistol for protection, that you needed the shotgun for protection,” Cimpl said. “How many guns are in bad neighborhoods because people need protection? It’s like the Wild West.”
Owen had pleaded guilty in August to second-degree reckless homicide, endangering safety and possession of a short-barreled shotgun. After the prison term, Owen must serve five years of extended supervision.
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