CRAWFORD COUNTY — A Green County man was reported to be in critical condition after he was shot in the head last week in rural Crawford County, and a suspect is in custody. 

Jason Melvin, 47, Monticello, was taken to Crossing Rivers Hospital in Prairie du Chien and then flown by Medflight helicopter to the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison following the shooting in the early morning hours of Friday, Oct. 25.

The suspect in the shooting, 47-year-old Lee J. Kennedy from Roscoe, Illinois, is charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, endangering safety by intoxicated use of a firearm and possessing a firearm as a felon. Recent court records also show an address for Kennedy in Wisconsin in the village of Viola.

He is currently jailed on a $50,000 cash bond.

According to the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, a 911 caller at 1:20 a.m. reported she was in a truck and the male driver, Melvin, had just been shot in the head as he was driving out of a driveway. She said the back window of the truck was blown out from the bullet and she had no idea where she was.

The call was traced to Martin Lane, near the village of Eastman.

The caller, Jennifer Glass, 40, Soldiers Grove, told authorities she and Melvin had given a man they met at a local tavern a ride to the cabin where he was staying because he was out celebrating his birthday and was too drunk to drive. She said when they arrived at the cabin, they went into a camper parked nearby and continued to celebrate the man’s birthday for about 45 minutes.

As they were leaving, a gunshot through the back window of the truck struck Melvin in the back of the head.