Baraboo man charged in shooting death at Star Lake

A Baraboo man was being held in the Aug. 21 shooting death of his sister at their mother’s home near Mountain.

Christopher G. Halase, 29, is charged in Oconto County Circuit Court with second-degree reckless homicide, homicide by the negligent use of a dangerous weapon, and a misdemeanor charge of operating a firearm with a controlled substance.

The victim, a 31-year-old Reedsburg woman identified in the criminal complaint only as AH, was pronounced dead on arrival at Langlade Memorial Hospital in Antigo a short time after the 12:52 a.m. incident at a residence on Heller Lane in the Town of Doty, at Star Lake northwest of Mountain.

According to the complaint, AH and her husband were sitting with her mother in a bedroom while Halase was outside shooting a pistol. A short time later Halase appeared in the doorway, pointed the gun at AH and it went off, striking her in the neck.

All witnesses said there were no arguments or disagreements before the incident occurred, and Halase apparently did not realize there was a bullet in the gun’s chamber, the complaint said.

Halase was coming to visit his mother and arranged for AH, her husband and her children, ages 3 and 5, also to come to the home for a family get-together. The group had drinks and food at the Halfway Bar before the incident.

A distraught Halase had to be wrestled into a squad car and was screaming about how his sister had been shot when deputies arrived, the complaint said.

Halase had not yet made an appearance in court, and authorities had not released AH’s full name as of late Tuesday afternoon.