Full Notification

On 10/1/2023 at 2:43 PM, Janesville Police were dispatched to a report of a subject shot with a firearm in the 400 block of South Jackson St. A 21-year-old male sustained non-life-threatening injuries. During the initial investigation, two persons of interest were identified but insufficient evidence existed to make an arrest at that time. Information gathered suggested that the incident was the result of an ongoing dispute between the involved parties. There was no direct threat to the community.

On 10/1/2023 at 11:05 PM, Janesville Police were dispatched to a shooting in the parking lot of Woodman’s 2819 N Lexington Dr. No one was injured in the incident. During the investigation, it was learned it was a retaliatory event related to the earlier shooting on S Jackson St.  One of the suspects in the S. Jackson St. shooting was the intended target.  Information gathered led to the development of probable cause to arrest the suspect of this shooting for Attempted 1st-degree Intentional Homicide. Again, the violence was between and directed at subjects known to each other. There was no direct threat to the community.

On 10/04/2023 at 11:30 AM, an off-duty Janesville Police Officer observed the suspect, of the S. Jackson St. shooting and the intended target of the Woodman's shooting, on N. Washington St. The officer contacted on-duty personnel who responded. When a uniformed officer confronted the suspect he produced a firearm and fired a shot before fleeing on foot. He was captured at 11:39 AM. A firearm was recovered. He was arrested for charges related to the Jackson St. shooting and additional charges from his actions taken while fleeing officers (see earlier information release).

As the investigation into the Woodman’s shooting continued, probable cause was developed to arrest 19-year-old Lawrence White for attempted 1st-degree intentional homicide and 1st-degree recklessly endangering safety. On 10/06/2023, Janesville Police Department Detectives, the Street Crimes Unit, and Patrol Officers located and arrested White. The firearm believed to have been used in the Woodman’s shooting was recovered.-  Along with several other firearms after a search warrant was conducted at his residence.

The Janesville Police Department prides itself on transparency and wishes to share information with the community whenever possible. What, if any, information could be released related to these incidents was evaluated during each step of these investigations. An evaluation of the situation determined that releasing the information could compromise the investigations by alerting suspects to what police knew and allowing them the opportunity to hide, destroy evidence, or intimidate witnesses.

Numerous times in the above paragraphs it was stated that there was no direct threat to the community. A “direct threat to the community” could be defined as a situation where there is reason to believe that violence may intentionally be targeted at uninvolved community members. All the information gathered in these investigations suggested that any violence was specifically targeted at individuals due to their previous interactions with the perpetrators.

Naturally, any time shootings take place in our city there is a risk that innocent bystanders could be caught in the crossfire. This could be defined as an “indirect threat” meaning that it is not specifically targeted at uninvolved community members. As information related to these incidents was gathered, there was no information or suggested actions we could give to the community that would reduce this indirect threat. The best way for the members of the Janesville Police Department to protect the community from this threat was to identify suspects and make arrests as rapidly as possible. As we decided that releasing information might compromise these efforts, we recognized that information releases would serve only to compromise our ability to protect the community through swift resolution of these investigations.

Now that arrests have been made in each shooting, we are both eager and proud to share the above information with our citizens as we feel it represents a significant example of the quality work conducted by our officers.  All the incidents are still under investigation and additional suspects and charges may be developed.

The Janesville Police Department would like to express their appreciation and gratitude to the citizens of Janesville for their support and assistance during this investigation.

Arrested for Woodman's incident
Lawrence E. White 19 years old
Janesville Resident

Charges:
Attempted 1^st Degree Intentional Homicide - 939.32(1)/940.01(1)
1^st Degree Recklessly Endangering Safety -  941.30(1)

Arrested with White not involved Woodman Incident 
David L. Baldwin 36 years old
Janesville Resident

Charges:
Felon in Possession of Firearm – 941.29

Incident Number: JV2349286(S. Jackson St.); JV2349347(Woodman’s); JV2349724 (N. Wash St.)
Location: Multiple
By: Sgt Jimmy G Holford III #2243
Date 10-08-2023

Pursuant to the directive of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, as found in Supreme Court Rule 20:3:6 Trial Publicity, you are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.