Bloomington shooting suspect arrested in Spencer
A suspect in a late Tuesday afternoon shooting on Bloomington’s west side has been arrested in the town of Spencer, about 15 miles northwest of the city, according to a Bloomington police department (BPD) news release on Wednesday.
About 8 hours after he is alleged to have shot a man in the 1500 block of West Kirkwood Avenue, Lewis Robert Siegrist was arrested in Spencer, at the Speedway gas station on West Morgan Street, according to the BPD news release. At the time of his arrest, he was armed with a 9mm handgun, the news release says.
According to the BPD news release, around 5:20 p.m. on Tuesday (Dec. 27), officers went to the 1500 block of West Kirkwood Avenue, responding to a call from someone who said they’d heard what they believed was a single gunshot, followed by a man yelling that he had been shot.
To the south, in the 200 block of South Westplex Avenue, officers found a 42-year-old man, with a gunshot wound to his upper torso, according to the BPD news release. The news release describes the Westplex Avenue address as “near Wheeler Mission.”
After being taken to an area hospital—the news release does not specify which one—the shooting victim was reported in stable condition.
The sequence of events pieced together by BPD investigators puts the victim in the backyard of a residence in the 1500 block of W. Kirkwood Avenue, where he was reportedly arguing with a woman, when a man approached and shot him with a handgun.
The victim told police that he tried to call 911, but the suspect stole his cellphone, so he began walking toward Westplex Avenue, where the victim was found by officers.
Immediately after the shooting, officers were not able to locate the suspect based on the victim’s description, but were able to identify the suspect as Siegrist, a 49-year-old, who is described in the news release as “transient.”
BPD investigators learned that Siegrist had fled Bloomington to a residence in Spencer, where they started surveillance. At around 1:40 a.m. on Wednesday (Dec. 28) Siegrist was arrested in Spencer “without incident,” according to the BPD news release.
Siegrist has been booked into the Monroe County jail, and charged with several crimes: Attempted Murder, level 1 felony; Robbery While Armed with a Deadly Weapon, level 2 felony; Possession of a Firearm by a Serious Violent Felon, level 4 felony; Criminal Recklessness, level 6 felony; Pointing a Firearm, level 6 felony.
According to the news release, Siegrist also had an active arrest warrant for the charge of Possession of Methamphetamine, which is a level 6 felony.
