Complaint: Ashwaubenon shooting happened during argument over cat

BROWN COUNTY, Wis. (WBAY) - An argument over a pet cat led to a shooting in Ashwaubenon, according to court documents.

Adriana Taylor Stephens, 19, is charged with Discharging a Firearm from a Vehicle-Towards a Building and Obstructing an Officer.

On Jan. 15, at about 1:49 a.m., police were called reports of a shooting at an apartment building on Holmgren Way. A witness stated she saw a white car outside the building and heard someone yelling and then a gunshot. The witness’s second floor apartment patio door had been hit. Police found a large hole in the door and pieces of a plant holder in the driveway. They also found a hole in the ceiling. A bullet was found on the floor.

The witness told police that her ex-girlfriend and other women had been outside her apartment. She came out on the patio and they had words before the shooting.

Police located the three women from the white car and interviewed them.

Stephens told police she drove the women to the apartments to get a cat but the cat was not there. Stephens said the victim and another woman argued about the cat, which was an ongoing issue for several months, and there was screaming and crying.

Stephens said she was afraid for her friend’s safety because of an earlier incident when one of the women went to get the cat from the victim’s mother’s home and the mother pulled a gun on her.

Stephens claimed she acted in self-defense. She said she thought the victim was coming down the stairs toward them and she fired her 9mm handgun out the front passenger side window toward the patio. She stated that the victim was not on the patio at the time and she didn’t fire at her. Stephens said she fired one shot before the women left and went back to an apartment on Leeland Ave.

Stephens said the gun was hers.

A preliminary breath test showed Stephens had a PBT of .123 percent--over the .08 percent legal limit to drive in Wisconsin.

The other women were not named because they were not charged in this incident.

A court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 19.