Standoff ends in arrest of 18-year-old police say gunned down teen

A four-hour standoff late Friday night on La Crosse's South Side ended when police arrested the suspect in George Miller's shooting death 13 hours earlier.

Eighteen-year-old Deshawn Randall was arrested at 11 p.m. at 918 Denton St., No. 5, a few blocks from where he is accused of fatally shooting Miller on Friday morning. It was the sixth shooting in eight days and La Crosse's first intentional homicide in two years.

Randall fired at the victim while he was a passenger in a car that stopped in the 1300 block of Redfield Street, after a confrontation, police Lt. Pat Hogan said.

Miller fled the car and ran one block south to the 1300 block of Green Bay Street with Randall in pursuit, Hogan said. Witnesses reported hearing multiple rounds of gunfire minutes later, and the victim died at the scene.

“He gunned that kid down," said one witness, whose two young grandchildren were playing outside a few feet from the shooting. “I was trying to be with him, but I couldn’t find him."

Randall faces a charge of first-degree intentional homicide when he appears Monday in La Crosse County Circuit Court.

The victim, who lived in La Crosse, was targeted by Randall, and police are looking into their history, Hogan said.

“This was not a random shooting,” he said.

Police evacuated a one-block area of Denton Street, and crews shut off power to the block at 9:15 p.m.  

"We want this to come to a safe conclusion," La Crosse police Lt. Pat Hogan said while the police emergency response team was trying to make contact with Randall.

The police department will double the number of officers working this weekend, as it did last weekend in the wake of the first shootings.

“The priority is public safety,” La Crosse police Assistant Chief Rob Abraham said. “We’re putting every resource we have into these investigations. We met with ATF to see what resources it could provide.”

La Crosse County prosecutors Friday sought arrest warrants for Randall and for Monica Thompson, 17, of 1313 Redfield St. on charges of recklessly endangering safety and disorderly conduct, both with use of a dangerous weapon, stemming from an incident Wednesday.

At about 5:40 p.m. outside 1027 Tyler St., Randall and Thompson drove by two women parked in a car, pointed guns at them and threatened to fire, according to the complaint. One of the women told police she suspected Randall was involved in a series of five shootings reported in La Crosse last weekend.

Thompson is jailed without bond.

Central High School, Longfellow Middle School and Hamilton Early Learning Center were locked down Friday as police documented the crime scene with help of a drone.

Friday’s football game between Central High School and Eau Claire North was postponed until noon today “out of respect to the family of a Central High School student who died unexpectedly today in La Crosse,” the La Crosse School District announced Friday.

Friday’s shooting capped a violent stretch on the city’s South Side that began Aug. 14, and investigators believe it might be connected to the five others last weekend in the Washburn Neighborhood.

"It's been a bad week for La Crosse, that's for sure,” La Crosse Mayor Tim Kabat said.

At 8:53 p.m. Aug. 14, shots were fired from inside a silver car into 1102 S. Fifth Ave. and 412 Mississippi St. Both houses were hit once by gunfire and police found several shell casings at Fifth and Jackson streets and Fifth and Mississippi streets. No one was injured.

Paul Thomas Sr., 40, was shot in the foot at 1:33 a.m. Aug. 15 while standing outside his apartment at 717 S. Fifth Ave., No. 3, according to police. He told officers he heard a noise and turned around to see two flashes. He ran toward the La Crosse fire station at Fifth and Market streets, where he realized he was shot and returned to his house and called police. He could not name a suspect and was treated at a local hospital.

The fourth weekend shooting was reported at 1:25 a.m. Sunday after witnesses heard several gunshots fired in the 900 block of South Fifth Avenue and saw three males between 15 and 20 years old fleeing the area, police stated. No one was injured.

Police still are trying to determine the exact location of the fifth shooting, reported at 1:49 p.m. Sunday, but believe it was near 400 S. Ninth St., where officers recovered a handgun.

Paul Thomas Jr., 19, was taken to a local hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound and released, according to police. He did not tell police who shot him or the motive for the shooting.

Thomas Jr. remains jailed on a municipal warrant. Investigators sought his DNA, which may constitute evidence of attempted homicide or reckless endangerment in connection with the earlier shootings, according to a search warrant.

Police also obtained a warrant to search a cellphone owned by Shavonte Thompson, 23, of Illinois, for evidence that may support the same charges. He is jailed in La Crosse on a probation hold.

The string of shootings undercut efforts to revitalize and build struggling neighborhoods, said La Crosse council member Francis Formanek, who represents the area of Friday’s shooting.

“It’s unfortunate that these instances one right after another overshadows all the good they’ve done. It’s not fair to the people,” he said. “Our neighborhoods are safe. People are doing this to themselves, not to neighborhoods.”

City officials try to reassure residents in the affected neighborhoods that La Crosse is still a safe city, but they’re frightened and concerned, the mayor said. Even with stepped up efforts of community policing, the string of shootings demonstrate "we still have work to do."

Said Kabat, "The work is never done."

Anyone with more information about this case should call police at 608-785-5962 or Crime Stoppers at 608-784-8477. Callers can remain anonymous and can also submit tips by text to 274637 or online at www.lacrossecrimestoppers.com.

Tribune reporter Betsy Bloom contributed to this report.