Complaint: Bullet passed through man’s scrotum in gas station shooting

2 face felony charges in multi-shooter incident

MADISON, Wis. — A Madison man was in court Tuesday on felony charges in connection with a shooting in mid-February at an east Madison gas station that injured four people, officials said.

Christopher L. Somersett Jr., 22, was in Dane County court for an initial appearance in connection to the shooting at the BP gas station at 4222 E. Washington Ave. in the early morning hours on Feb. 19.

Somersett is charged with party to the crime of first-degree recklessly endangering safety with use of a dangerous weapon and felon in possession of a firearm.

Cash bond for Somersett was set at $150,000, according to court records. Somersett can’t have contact with the other parties involved in the incident, can’t go to any BP gas stations and can’t possess dangerous weapons, according to the bond order.

According to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday, one of the other men accused in the shooting, 28-year-old Claude D. Knight, told police Somersett was targeting one of the men in the BP station lot because that man had jumped a friend of Somersett’s, also described as his brother.

Knight is facing a felony charge of party to the crime of first-degree recklessly endangering safety with use of a dangerous weapon.

Doctors told police the bullet that struck one of the injured men entered through his buttock and exited through his scrotum. The doctor of another man who was injured said the bullet came to rest in his clavicle where it will stay, according to the complaint. Two others arrived at Madison hospitals after the shooting with non-life-threatening injuries.

The morning of the shooting, as officers arrived, multiple vehicles were leaving the area. A man was found with a non-life-threatening injury at the gas station, and three others arrived at Madison hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the report. More than 20 bullet casings from at least three different weapons were found at the scene, police said.

Last month, police Chief Mike Koval said the shooting was gang-related.But the same day as the shooting, family members of the men who were shot said that the incident wasn’t related to any gang activity.

A preliminary hearing for Somersett in the case is set at 9 a.m. on March 30, court records show. A bail hearing is scheduled for Knight at 8:30 a.m. on March 29.

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