Randall said he didn’t shoot Miller

Victim shot 9 times, police found a weapon

Deshawn Randall has been formally charged with first-degree murder. That was the outcome of a hearing Thursday in La Crosse County Circuit Court.

Miller was wounded 11 times by nine separate gunshots from a .380 caliber on the southside of La Crosse on the morning of Aug. 21, and died from the wounds.

When Randall was interviewed Thursday, and asked if he knew George Miller, the criminal complaint says, “(Randall) claimed he did not know a George Miller, smiling.”

He was asked again and Randall replied, “George who?” He said he knew Miller was from Central (High School) and had asked what happened to him. He said police had the wrong guy, and he was sleeping all day on the couch. He said police were only arresting him because he was black.

The decision was to transport Randall to jail. When asked if he wanted the police to contact any family for him, he responded, “No, I bet I’ll be out tomorrow.”

According to a female witness, from the criminal complaint, Miller was the passenger in a car when Randall approached Friday morning and said he was going to shoot him.

Miller said something like, “You have the gun? I’m still here.” Randall, whose nicknamed ‘Man Man,’ then showed a silver handgun in his waistband.

Miller’s toned changed. He became apologetic, but Randall pointed the gun at him and shot. Miller was hit in the side. He started yelling, crying, saying he was having a hard time breathing.

According to the complaint, another witness then said, after that shot, the two ran in opposite directions, but Randall then reappeared in Miller’s path, gun pointed in his direction. Randall then yelled at this witness, to get out of the way or he’ll shoot her, too. The witness dropped, then heard three or four more gunshots.

Other witnesses also saw Randall pull out a gun and initially shoot Miller, who was sitting a car.

According to the criminal complaint, Thursday, Randall was interviewed by police, but chose not to discuss the shooting on Aug. 21, at the request of his attorney. Randall, however, did speak about the shootings on Aug. 14.

Randall said that Miller and another pulled up next to him in an SUV, showed their guns and said, “Tell your man it’s on, it’s war,” and then made the motion as if they were cocking their pistols, before driving off. Randall said, driving later that night, those two ended up behind him and began shooting. According to Randall, the person he was with returned fire, and was eventually shot.

The police then asked Randall whether he had a gun and Randall “adamantly denied having any kind of access to any guns and did not carry guns.”

Then, he said he started carrying a weapon about a week ago. When asked how he got it, he said during a “hike” (robbery) in Milwaukee, where his cousin gave him a gun. He then said he brought it back to La Crosse for protection … and that it was now thrown in a sewer grate in La Crosse, because the police were after him.

Days after the shooting, according to the report, police received a tip that there was a red sweatshirt – the same color multiple witnesses say Randall was wearing during the shooting – in a tree in the backyard of a residence on Green Bay St. After a search of that area, along with finding the sweatshirt with most likely, blood stains, police also found a .380 caliber pistol.