Masked intruder shot to death breaking into North Side residence

The man broke into the home at 1714 Packers Ave. about 2:30 a.m. and was fatally shot by one of the people inside, Chief Shon Barnes said at a news conference later Friday morning at the scene. A man, woman and girl were in the duplex at the time the masked man broke in, he said, and “shots had been fired.” No one else was hurt.

The body of a man fatally shot after breaking into a home on Madison’s North Side early Friday morning is removed from the scene at 1714 Packers Ave. A man, woman and girl were inside the apartment at the time. They were not injured, but one of them shot the intruder, police said. Police were called from outside the home by the man who had been in the home, and he led them to the dead man, Barnes said.

Multiple weapons were found at the scene, he said, but it wasn’t immediately clear who they belonged to. The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office will release the identity of the dead man. Barnes did not release the names or ages of the people in the home at the time the man broke in but said they are cooperating with police. He said the girl is older than a toddler.

“She’s with her mother now and detectives are talking to them to try to figure out why this particular residence was targeted, what issues may have been involved,” Barnes said. Police had no information yet on whether there would be charges in the case.Barnes said there had been “general disturbance”-type calls to the area and building in the past, but it wasn’t clear if the calls were specifically to the apartment where the shooting occurred. City property records show two residential units at that address.

The apartment had a sign in the window that said “Anisa World,” with dates that match the date 11-year-old Anisa Scott was born and the date she died after being shot in a drive-by shooting on Madison’s East Side on Aug. 11, 2020. She was a passenger in a car on East Washington Avenue when occupants from another vehicle opened fire, intending to strike the driver.

Barnes said he wasn’t immediately aware of any connection between Scott’s murder and Friday’s fatal shooting.

Barnes said the home invasion was the second of two in that neighborhood overnight Thursday. He did not believe they were connected but said the area will get additional police attention over the weekend.

Friday’s fatal shooting is the seventh killing this year in Madison, Barnes said, although two were deemed justified.