By Shereen Siewert
A suspect in a July 3 drive by shooting who has been on the run for two months is now in custody, after being arrested near Dallas, Texas in an unrelated case.
Maurice Bell, 32, will be extradited to Wisconsin at an unknown date. Recommended charges of attempted first degree homicide and possession of a firearm as a felon have been forwarded to Marathon County District Attorney Theresa Wetzsteon, according to a Wausau Police Department news release.
Bell is the second suspect in the shooting. Amanda Lewis, 35, faces two counts of attempted first-degree homicide, as party to a crime in connection with the shooting, which shook residents and business owners in the downtown area.
Police say Lewis, of Wausau, was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Bell, who allegedly shot at two teenagers just after 2:30 p.m. on Wed., July 3 in the area of North First Street and McIndoe Street. No one was injured in the shooting, which is being described as retaliation for a perceived connection with the near-fatal beating of a 15-year-old boy two days earlier on Chicago Avenue. The boy who was beaten, a friend of Lewis’ son, was critically injured in the attack. Four teens are facing charges in connection with the beating.
Lewis is being held in the Marathon County Jail on a $250,000 cash bond.
“We are grateful for the assistance of the Euless (Texas) Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service in locating and apprehending this person,” said Wausau Lt. Nathan Cihlar, in his Sept. 6 release.
