‘I’ll never forget:’ Mother witnesses deadly shooting of her son outside Dane Co. Jail

Family ID's man killed in shooting outside Dane Co. Jail; vigil held to remember victim

 

MADISON, Wis. — Family members and friends of the man shot and killed in downtown Madison Wednesday held a vigil outside the jail where he was shot Friday evening.

Several dozen people came to celebrate the life of the man whose mother, Angela Michelle Briggs, identified as Dwayne Lee Collins. Police said Friday he had just been released from the jail at the time.

Briggs said she was there on Wednesday outside the jail and witnessed her 31-year-old son and father of three young boys getting shot.

“’ll never forget,” she said. “To have to pick my child’s head up to try to comfort him and to see blood running down him, that’s something I cannot take back out my head. I close my eyes and I see that.”

Briggs said she felt good seeing so many people come out to celebrate Collins but was distraught knowing that at least of the people facing charges in her son’s death wasn’t a stranger.

“To have to watch somebody gun down my child, someone he knew, someone that had been to our house and spent the night, to eat my food and to shoot my child down in brought daylight in front of the county building that’s not,–I don’t know,” she said.

At the vigil Briggs shared that her son loved to make music, play basketball and spend time with his family and friends. She also said though he wasn’t perfect and sometimes got into trouble he was kind and took care of his family.

Earlier Friday, police announced they arrested a second person in connection with the shooting which Police Chief Shon Barnes called a “premeditated and pre-planned targeted incident.

RELATED: Second person arrested in homicide outside Dane Co. jail as police release more details

Neither suspect had been formally charged in court as of Friday afternoon. Police took the men into custody minutes after the shooting near the intersection of John Nolen Drive and Rimrock Road. Initially, police described them as persons of interest.

The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office has not confirmed the victim’s name or provided further details about his death.