Man killed at hospital was involved in recent stabbing, drive-by shooting in Elkhorn
By Kellen Olshefski
SLN Staff
The inmate fatally shot by a Walworth County Sheriff’s Deputy in January was allegedly involved in a stabbing last March and a Jan. 19 drive-by shooting in Elkhorn.
Alfredo Emilio Villarreal was killed Jan. 21 at Aurora Lakeland Medical Center after he allegedly attacked the deputy guarding him.
When contacted by phone for an update Monday, Feb. 11, Walworth Count Sheriff David Graves said, “We have nothing new to release.”
When asked when he thought the investigation being conducted by the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department would be complete, Graves responded, “There is no set time,” adding that he was unable to provide even a ballpark estimate.
Voicemail and email messages left for Waukesha County Sheriff Dan Trawicki seeking a status update on the investigation were not returned by press time.
Stabbing incident
Villarreal allegedly stabbed Rafael Villegas twice in an incident on March 21, 2012, in the City of Elkhorn.
According to the criminal complaint, Elkhorn police were informed by a citizen witness of a fight between two groups behind Jackson Elementary School.
Elkhorn police officer Robert Rayfield arrived at the scene and identified the first group as being Rafael Villegas, Gary Villegas and Ben Glover. He then identified the second group, which included Villarreal, Alexander Rickert, Cole Sorg and Clayton Rhymer.
Officers separated the fighting youth and found two knives, one in the playground with an approximately 5-inch blade and a second slightly smaller one at the bottom of a gutter/sewer grate near the southeast corner of the school.
Officer Roger Person reported he noticed Villegas had two puncture wounds.
According to the complaint, Villegas said it must have happened during the fight, denying any knowledge of how he got the wounds, and refused treatment.
The complaint said Villegas later went to Aurora Lakeland Medical Center’s emergency room for treatment and was flown to Froedtert Hospital in Wauwatosa.
Person went to talk to Villegas while he was at Lakeland Medical Center. Villegas, according to the complaint, told Person that Rhymer had jumped him, hitting him in the head, before others jumped in.
When questioned by Detective Thomas Bushey of the Elkhorn Police Department, Villarreal admitted to getting a knife from Rhymer, stabbing Villegas twice, and then putting the knife in the gutter.
Villarreal was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment with the use of a dangerous weapon.
He was later charged with felony bail jumping for failing to appear in court on Aug. 17. Charges were dismissed after Villarreal’s death.
The citizen witness told police she was “extremely frightened and disturbed by the incident – physically shaking as she dialed 911,” and that she remains concerned about gang activity in her neighborhood and retaliation against her.
Drive-by shooting
Villarreal was also allegedly involved in a drive-by shooting in Elkhorn on Jan. 19, two days before his death. Other people allegedly involved include Cameron Casillas, 18, of Milwaukee, Sarah Brittain, 28, of Elgin, Ill., and Rochele Sorg, 19, of Elkhorn.
Casillas, Sorg and Brittain are charged with first-degree recklessly endangering safety, use of a dangerous weapon, discharging a firearm from a vehicle toward a building and endangering safety by reckless use of a firearm.
If convicted, each defendant faces up to $75,000 in fines and 35 years imprisonment.
According to the criminal complaint:
City of Elkhorn Police Department officers Rayfield and Kimberly Ketchpaw responded to a report of shots fired into a residence on Hartwell Street at approximately 7:50 p.m.
Rayfield spoke to Alexander Maurizzi and Flavio Giovanni Perez, who stated they were inside the house when they heard shots fired.
Maurizzi stated he believed the shooting was retaliation because he won a court case earlier in the week since Casillas failed to show up in court.
The court case concerned a November 2011 altercation between Guillermo Huerta, Villarreal, Casillas and Maurizzi, in which Huerta allegedly struck Villarreal over the head with a pipe.
Officer Rayfield found shell casings in the street outside the residence and Walworth County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Brand located a bullet entrance hole in the south wall of the residence.
Rayfield further reported a window where a bullet had entered and a closet where a bullet went through clothing.
When Detective Bushey spoke with Villarreal, he stated he was at his girlfriend’s house between 7 and 8 p.m. that night.
However, when Bushey spoke with Villarreal’s girlfriend, she stated Villarreal was not with her at that time.
Bushey confronted Villarreal about the lie and Villarreal admitted he had actually been with Martin Villarreal and Casillas on the night of the shooting.
Villarreal’s girlfriend’s father informed Bushey Villarreal left shortly after 7 p.m. for a party with the defendants.
Sorg told Bushey they had talked about shooting Maurizzi’s house and that she had heard Casillas try shooting the gun as they drove past but it did not go off.
When they later picked up Martin and Alfredo Villarreal, she heard Martin ask if it was a real gun.
Martin told Bushey his window went down without him rolling it down, he bent down and Alfredo shot the gun out of the window at Maurizzi’s house.
Sorg told Bushey they first drove to Williams Bay and then back to Sorg’s house in Elkhorn, where Casillas and Villarreal wiped the prints off the firearm. Martin said Alfredo told them he had buried the gun in the backyard.
