A Fitchburg man was arrested Wednesday following a shooting Tuesday night in the hallway of his apartment building that killed one person and wounded another.

Detarius Martin, 23, of Madison, died from multiple gunshot wounds following the shooting that occurred just before midnight at 3309 Leopold Way, Dane County Coroner John Stanley said.

Perry E. Lucas, 28, was being held in the Dane County Jail on a tentative charge of first-degree intentional homicide.

Fitchburg police Lt. Chad Brecklin said Lucas is believed to have fired multiple shots after a disturbance broke out between a number of people.

A 27-year-old Fitchburg man also was shot and was treated at a hospital and released, Brecklin said. He has not been identified.

Fitchburg police also are investigating a second shooting incident that happened late Wednesday morning outside an apartment building less than a mile away from the fatal shooting.

“We have no reason to believe they are related at this point,” Brecklin said of the pair of shootings.

No one was injured in the Wednesday morning incident, and police said they had one person in custody.

Brecklin said the victims in Tuesday night’s fatal shooting knew one another and had become acquainted with Lucas Tuesday night.

“They were not sought out by the suspect,” Brecklin said.

A resident on Leopold Way called 911 and reported hearing multiple gunshots and seeing someone lying on the ground outside. A second 911 call was made by one of the shooting victims, who was outside with the second victim.
Six minutes after the initial 911 calls, a man claiming to be the shooter called 911, spoke with police and was taken into custody, police said.

“We are still trying to sort out the circumstances surrounding” the shooting, Brecklin said.

Lucas’ father, Perry Lucas Jr. of Madison, said his family was struggling with the news of the shooting and his son’s arrest, saying “it’s not the family characteristic” to be involved with violence.

“I’m sorry for what the other family is dealing with,” Lucas said.

Ivette Aponte, of Rockford, Ill., said Lucas had spent about two years serving in the war in Iraq while he was married to her daughter, with whom he has a 7-year-old son. She said her daughter and Lucas were divorced last year and described Lucas as “a very good father” and “a nice guy.”

Members of Martin’s family declined to comment on Wednesday.

Pike Drive incident

Police responded to a second shooting incident at about 11:40 a.m. Wednesday and had cordoned off an apartment building at 2019 Pike Drive.

Witnesses to the Pike Drive incident said two young men scuffled by the curb outside the apartment building. One of the men pulled out a gun and shot at the other, who ran down the street, then hopped in a gray car driven by a woman and drove away. Police said no one was hit by the gunfire.

The alleged shooter, Donroze J. Harris, 29, was arrested shortly after the shooting and tentatively charged with endangering safety by the use of a dangerous weapon, police said. Sgt. Donovan Jarstad said Harris lived in the apartment building where the shooting took place. The second man involved in the incident has not been identified, police said.

Jarstad said police have not yet determined what the dispute was about.

Police and firefighters searched the roof of the apartment building looking for the weapon but did not find it.
State Journal reporter Patricia Simms and Chris Rickert and Capital Times reporter Bill Novak contributed to this report.

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