A felon has been arrested and charged after police say he randomly fired a stolen rifle in a neighborhood near Antioch last month.
Joseph L. Engmark, 41, of the 10700 block of 255th Street in Trevor, Wisconsin, has been charged with two counts of felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, unlawful use of a weapon and driving on a revoked driver’s license.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded on August 27 and August 31 to the Channel Lake subdivision in unincorporated Antioch for a report of shots fired.
Both times deputies arrived they located used shell casings, which were identified as .22 LR casings, according to Lake County Sheriff Spokesman Sgt. Christopher Covelli.
The investigating deputies received information about a possible vehicle involved and determined the vehicle had been involved in a recent crash in Antioch.
The driver at that time was identified as Engmark.
Deputies continued investigating and learned that Engmark was a suspect in a 2018 burglary that occurred in the 43300 block of North Melva Avenue in unincorporated Antioch.
A .22 LR rifle was stolen during that burglary.
The deputies obtained further information about the burglary and were able to link Engmark to the person who had been randomly firing the firearm in the Channel Lake subdivision, Covelli said.
Sheriff’s deputies located Engmark driving southbound on Tiffany Road north of Route 173 in Antioch on Friday.
Sheriff’s deputies were aware Engmark had two active arrest warrants and was driving with a revoked driver’s license, Covelli said.
They conducted a traffic stop on Engmark’s vehicle and placed him into custody. The sheriff’s deputies located the stolen .22 LR rifle in the man’s vehicle.
“I am extraordinarily proud of these patrol deputies for working diligently to identify and apprehend this man who was randomly driving through a neighborhood, firing a gun, and traumatizing the community,” Sheriff John Idleburg said.
“Every day our sheriff’s deputies take pride in going the extra mile to keep our Lake County community safe,” Idleburg added.
Engmark was transported to the Lake County jail where he remains held on a $75,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court on October 7.