Man Charged In Wis. Drive-By Faces New Count
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a southeastern Wisconsin man accused of killing an Illinois woman in an interstate drive-by with shooting his neighbor to death earlier in the day.
The Milwaukee County district attorney's office filed one count of first-degree reckless homicide against 20-year-old Zachary Hays on Monday. He would face up to 60 years in prison if he's convicted.
According to a criminal complaint, Hays lived in the same apartment building as 42-year-old Gabriel Claudio-Sanchez in West Allis, a Milwaukee suburb. A woman living in the apartment with Claudio-Sanchez told investigators that around 6:30 a.m. on May 1 Hays began banging on their door.
He said he wanted a key for the basement. She gave it to him but it appeared he couldn't unlock the basement door. He then turned to her and asked where his brother was and tried to move inside the apartment.
The woman, identified in the complaint only by the initials K.L.V., tried to close the door on him. Claudio-Sanchez began to help her when Hays pulled out a gun and shot Claudio-Sanchez.
The woman and her two children fled to the bathroom. Hays came after them and pointed the gun at them with a blank stare. He then turned around and left. The woman later picked Hays out of a police photo line-up.
An autopsy revealed Claudio-Sanchez died of a gunshot wound to the chest.
Hays then apparently headed northwest with two of his brothers. The three of them were driving south on Interstate 90/94 when Hays opened fire on an Illinois family heading home after a weekend in Wisconsin Dells. He hit 44-year-old Tracy Czaczkowski in the neck; she later died of her wound.
It's not clear why Hays opened fire on the family; investigators have said the shooting appears to have been random. One of Hays' brothers told police that Hays had smoked marijuana a few days earlier and had been acting extremely paranoid, especially about cars with tinted windows, according to court documents. The Czaczkowskis' BMW sedan had tinted windows.
Police stopped Hays' SUV with a spike strip. Sheriff's deputies shot him when he emerged from the vehicle with a gun, according to investigators. He was taken to the University of Wisconsin Hospital.
Sauk County prosecutors charged Hays last week with three counts of reckless endangerment and one count first-degree intentional homicide in connection with Czaczkowski's death. That charge carries a mandatory life sentence.
Online court records don't list an attorney for Hays. Dane County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Elise Schaffer said Monday that Hays remains hospitalized.
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