MONROE  —  Investigation into a stray bullet that grazed a fisherman near Browntown in December has led to charges against two men, according to Green County Circuit Court records.

Joshua T. Leopold, 39, Darlington, and Michael C. Kollatz, 38, Albany, are charged with endangering seven people by allegedly shooting guns at a makeshift shooting range near Cadiz Springs State Recreation Area.

Leopold and Kollatz face seven misdemeanor counts each of endangering safety through use of a dangerous weapon as a party to a crime.

Leopold also faces one felony count of causing injury through negligent use of a weapon.

They signed $2,000 signature bonds at their April 29 initial appearances. Their conditions of bond include “no discharge of weapons except under emergency circumstances.” Leopold is next in court for a preliminary hearing June 13. Kollatz has a pre-trial conference June 4.

According to the criminal complaints, filed March 26:

On Dec. 9, a deputy responded to an address in Juda to take a report from a man who said he was shot in the leg while fishing with friends on the lake at Cadiz Springs.

The man said he was taking down his ice shanty “when all of a sudden something struck him in his left leg,” the deputy reported. The man thought at first his heater had malfunctioned. He later found a bullet in his fishing bucket. The bullet went through his thick Carhartt pants and left a welt and open wound on his leg.

Another fisherman reported a bullet went by his head.

Investigation led the deputy to a property just north of Beckman Lake where Leopold and Kollatz had reportedly been shooting off .40 caliber rounds.

“Nowhere on this property was any type of sand pile, dirt pile or any other object that would stop the bullets safely,” the deputy wrote. The bullets ricocheted off the ground and headed in a southerly direction toward the area where people were fishing.

The gunshot victim told the deputy he wanted a “sincere apology” from the shooters and that if they paid any medical expenses he had, “he would be okay with that.”

Two days later, on Dec. 11, he informed the deputy he had a good conversation with Leopold and Kollatz and he was satisfied with their apology. 

He also said he was “satisfied that they would make things right” if he needed any medical expenses covered.