Accidental shooting injures Town of Glenwood woman

By LeAnn R. Ralph

TOWN OF GLENWOOD — A woman was injured in the Town of Glenwood when a .22 rifle accidentally discharged and the round went through a bathroom wall and struck the woman as she was getting into the shower.

The St. Croix County sheriff’s department was dispatched to a Town of Glenwood home on 290th Street at around noon Wednesday, February 22, for a woman who had been accidentally shot by her boyfriend.

According to a report by St. Croix County sheriff’s investigator Jim Mikla, Michaella Kegen was at home with her boyfriend, Garrett Shaw, and said that around noon she was just finishing taking a bath and was getting into the shower when she felt a pop on the back of her buttock area.

Not knowing what was going on, Kegen came out of the bathroom where she encountered Shaw, who was distraught and yelling, “Oh my God! Oh my God! Are you OK?”

At that point, Kegen realized that she had been shot and was bleeding, according to the report.

Kegen told Investigator Mikla that there were no domestic issues and that there had been no arguments. Kegen advised that she had recently become engaged to be married to Shaw and that she was not concerned that it had not been an accident.

According to a report from Deputy Ryan Kelly, Kegen said she believed Shaw had accidentally dropped a gun and it went off, striking her in the leg.

Shaw told Deputy Kelly that he had been preparing to go squirrel hunting, and he was getting his .22 rifle ready for the hunt when he accidentally dropped the gun, which fired a round into the bathroom and struck Kegen.

Shaw was upset and crying and asked many times “if Michaella was going to be okay,” according to Deputy Kelly’s report.

Shaw told Deputy Kelly he was going squirrel hunting with a friend who is a student at Boyceville High School.

According to a report by Deputy Nick Krueger, Kegen said she believed one of the firearms located in the room adjacent to the bathroom had fallen and went off.

Deputy Krueger wrote that he began looking at the wall, and about three feet up the wall, he found a bullet hole and gun powder residue in a perfect circle around the bullet hole.

Deputy Krueger spoke with one of the medics from Baldwin, who said that Kegen had told him she thought her cellular telephone had blown up but then quickly realized it was not possible because she was not clothed.

Kegen and Shaw both gave deputies permission to search the residence and their vehicles.

According to Investigator Cary Rose’s report, a .22 caliber long rifle was located on the back porch with one spent .22 caliber shell casing also located on the porch.

“I then proceeded into the bathroom. It appeared the bullet went through the wall of the porch area and exited into the bathroom area. In the bathroom, I saw a brown towel hanging on a rack where the bullet exited the wall, went through the brown towel and into the victim,” according to Investigator Rose’s report.

According to Sergeant Brent Standaert’s report, Deputy Krueger said he had observed the scene and noticed the bullet hole in the bathroom wall was near waist height, suggesting the firearm did not discharged from accidentally falling on the floor.

Shaw told Sgt. Standaert he had been dating Kegen for three years, and about two weeks ago, they had been engaged to be married.

Shaw indicated he was going to take the .22 rifle and a shotgun out hunting, and he wanted to check the .22 rifle to make sure it was empty, so he removed the following rod from the tube feed magazine. Shaw tipped the .22 rifle over to make sure there were no rounds in the magazine and found none.

Shaw turned the .22 rifle back over, lost control, and the rifle fell out of his hands while it was parallel to the ground and about wast high.

Shaw tried to grab the rifle as it fell but did not know if it fired when he tried to grab it or when it hit the ground.

Shaw heard Kegen yell his name, knew something was wrong, ran toward her and noticed she was bleeding from her upper thigh and appeared to have been hit by the errant .22 rifle round, according to  Sgt. Standaert’s report.

Sgt. Standaert joined Investigator Rose, who advised “the physical evidence in the house corroborated Garrett Shaw and Michaella Kegen’s version of events.”

At that point, Sgt. Standaert told Shaw he was free to go to the hospital if he wanted to.

Shaw consented to Sgt. Standaert downloading the contents of his cell phone.

Sgt. Standaert released Shaw’s cell phone to him the next day.

Sgt. Standaert wrote in his report that he had found no evidence supporting foul play on the phone.

“Shaw advised Kegen had been released from the hospital and would likely have surgery in the next few days to remove the bullet,” according to the sergeant’s report.