William Shillingford Charged With Murder After Shooting Outside Rural Southern Minnesota Home
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A southern Minnesota man is accused of murder after allegedly driving Sunday night to a rural Olmstead County home and fatally shooting a man who lived there.
William Shillingford, 31, of Dodge Center, is charged with second-degree murder in the death of John Colbert, court documents filed Tuesday show. He also faces an attempted murder charge, as Colbert's son was with him at the time of the shooting.
According to a criminal complaint, Shillingford drove a pickup truck late Sunday night to a home on the 5000 block of County Road 105 in Kalmar Township, roughly 20 miles northwest of Rochester. Surveillance video showed the pickup truck circling the driveway once before stopping. Shillingford is seen getting out of the truck, armed with handgun.
Colbert's son told investigators that he was on the couch when he saw the pickup truck roll into the driveway. He went outside to investigate and saw a white man hiding in a shed. The son went back inside, told his father, who grabbed a handgun.
When Colbert and his son went back outside together, the armed man approached them with a gun. The surveillance video shows Shillingford rack his gun and shoot three times, once while standing, once while kneeling, and again while lying prone.
One of the bullets struck Colbert, who retreated back inside. His son grabbed his father's gun and fired a couple shots at Shillingford, who ran off into the night. The son turned to help his father and call 911.
First-responders found Colbert with a gunshot wound to his right arm. The bullet tore one of his arteries, causing significant bleeding. Despite the efforts of Mayo Clinic paramedics, Colbert died roughly 45 minutes after the shooting.
Police arrested Shillingford after witnesses reported seeing a white man wearing jeans, a T-shirt, one sock and no shoes in a nearby ditch, the complaint states. Officers apprehended Shillingford as he approached a nearby house. He was covered in grass and "extremely belligerent," yelling out random names, investigators say.
The gun he allegedly used in the shooting was found at an unoccupied building near Colbert's home. Police say that Shillingford threw it inside the building while fleeing, shattering a window in the process.
Shillingford remains in custody. He made his first court appearance Tuesday morning, when his bail was set at $1 million. If convicted of the second-degree murder charge, Shillingford faces up to 40 years in prison.
