Court documents reveal the last moments of a Canadian man’s life before he was shot dead last week in Wisconsin.
Giovanni Michael Robinson, 32, originally from Stouffville, Ont., was killed last Wednesday in Sheboygan Falls, a small city near Lake Michigan’s west coast. Robinson was on a golf trip, celebrating a hole-in-one with his in-laws when he was killed, family members have told CBC News.
Police said Robinson was pronounced dead at the scene.
A Wisconsin man, 35, has been charged with first-degree reckless homicide in Robinson’s death.
Robinson, known as Mike, had been living in Pennsylvania with his American wife and recently became a new father weeks ago, when he and his wife had a baby girl.
In a criminal complaint filed in the State of Wisconsin circuit court on Friday, the Sheboygan Falls Police Department alleges Robinson was with a group of other men who tried to negotiate a ride back to their hotel with a food delivery driver they had approached before the shooting took place.
Witness recalls hearing 1 gunshot, document says
Police interviewed three witnesses, all men, and obtained surveillance camera video from the tavern that the men had visited as well as from two other businesses. According to the witnesses, the interaction with the food delivery driver was not hostile and they did not take a ride with him because the amount he wanted was too steep, the documents say.
One witness recalled that while the group was outside walking on the street, one of his friends made contact in Spanish with a Hispanic man driving a black SUV. The driver finished his delivery and requested $40 for the ride. Once they decided they weren’t going to take the ride, they continued walking while the driver drove off, the witness said.
That same witness recalled seeing the same black SUV then return, slow down and open fire at their group.
“He said the whole incident was very quick and to the best of his recollection he heard one gunshot, which sounded like the sound of a firecracker,” the criminal complaint reads.
Later, the criminal complaint says the witness provided a written statement to police in which he gave a description of the accused. In the statement, the witness said the man rolled down the passenger side window of his vehicle and shot Robinson, according to the criminal complaint.
Another witness told police that he saw Robinson stand for two seconds then collapse, and one member of the group was able to catch him.
Giovanni Michael Robinson, 32, originally from Stouffville, Ont., was killed last Wednesday in Sheboygan Falls, a small city near Lake Michigan’s west coast. Robinson was on a golf trip, celebrating a hole-in-one with his in-laws when he was killed. (Supplied by Daniella Apostolakos)
According to video surveillance from the tavern, described in the criminal complaint, four men are seen walking up to the black SUV. They are not seen on camera again. But a person is seen on the driver’s side going to an address, returning to the vehicle and later making a U-turn.
Video from another business captures audio of yelling, before four people are seen. And video from yet another business appears to show the suspect vehicle, which an officer has identified as having similar headlights and fog lights as those of the vehicle driven by the accused.
The accused, for his part, told police he made contact with one of the four, whom he described as appearing to be drunk. He said there was no argument but the men called him “stupid” and he made a U-turn. He said he drove past them, “everything appeared to be fine” and said he didn’t have a gun.
In a news release on Sept. 26, police said the accused was being held at the Sheboygan County Detention Center.
