Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Thursday, August 07, 2008

Man unsure how he was shot in the foot

By Kevin Behr | Lee Newspapers

WINONA, Minn. — A 27-year-old Winona man doesn’t know how he ended up with a bullet hole through his left foot Tuesday night.

In fact, the man doesn’t know who he was with when he was shot, where he was at when it happened or who took him to the hospital.

The Winona County Sheriff’s Department wants help — from someone besides the victim — filling the holes in this bizarre story.

Deputies were dispatched to Community Memorial Hospital at about 10:45 p.m. on a report of a man with a gunshot wound. The man appeared to have been shot with a small-caliber gun in the top of the left foot just behind his middle toe, Chief Deputy Ron Ganrude said. The hole went all the way through the man’s foot, he said.

According to the police report:

The man said he got into a car with three “college-aged males” and went to a party with them on a beach of a nearby lake. The man said he didn’t know where the beach was or who the men were who took him there. He also said he didn’t know any of the 40 people at the party.

The man told police he later heard what he thought were firecrackers going off and said everyone started running away. He ran, too, and got into a car with two women he didn’t know. That’s when he realized he was bleeding from his foot. He took his shoe off and noticed the bullet hole.

The unidentified women drove him to the hospital and left.

Ganrude, who declined to release the man’s name, said the man had been drinking.

The sheriff’s department is asking for anyone with any information about the incident to call the Law Enforcement Center at (507) 457-6368 or Crime Stoppers at (507) 457-6530.

Kevin Behr is a reporter for the Winona Daily News.