Documents: Agents thought Quadren Wilson fired first; no gun found on him

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - According to three newly unsealed search warrants, officers say they thought a wanted man shot and arrested by DCI agents fired first, but since the arrest, investigators have confirmed Quadren Wilson was unarmed at the time he was taken into custody.

Quadren Wilson’s family says law enforcement officers shot Wilson five times after they stopped his car in Madison on Feb. 3 and tried to arrest him on a drug violation. Wilson survived his wounds.

The Dane County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident. The office has said Wilson wasn’t armed and two state Justice Department agents fired their weapons. The sheriff’s office has not said their rounds struck Wilson, however.

According to the warrants, a “multijurisdictional group of law enforcement officers including members of the Madison Police Department, Wisconsin Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration were attempting to locate and apprehend a wanted suspect named Quadren L. Wilson.”

The warrant says at the time, Wilson was wanted on an outstanding warrant issued through the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. The day of the arrest, the warrant describes him as being involved in a “criminal investigation regarding a Reckless Endangerment with a controlled substance component for Possession with Intent to Deliver Cocaine Base and Fentanyl.”

It says task force members saw Wilson driving near the intersection of American Parkway and Eastpark Boulevard on the north side of Madison around 8 a.m. and tried taking him into custody. They state that during the arrest, “Wilson was described as firing a gun from within the passenger compartment of a Hyundai Tucson. Law enforcement was described as returning fire towards Wilson resulting in Wilson being struck in the torso and ultimately taken into custody.” Again though, it was determined that Wilson was not armed.

Wilson was taken to a hospital to be treated for gunshot wounds.

The newly unsealed warrants did show what officers found in Wilson’s car he was borrowing from a friend at the time. They say they found 48 grams of crack cocaine, 23 grams of Fentanyl, a scale and a cell phone. Wilson’s lawyer, Stephen Eisenberg, tells NBC15 Investigates he disputes the claim Fentanyl was found in the car.

Eisenberg also tells NBC15 Investigates there is no reason to believe Wilson tried to get away from police at the time of his arrest, and he says none of it explains why “27″ officers were needed to arrest him when he says Wilson was scheduled to see his probation officer the following day.

The investigation into the shooting and Wilson’s arrest is now in the hands of the Dane County District attorney’s office. They are still waiting for more follow up information from the investigation before they make their decision on whether or not charges will be filed.

Wilson pleaded guilty to drug charges from a case back in 2021 back in May. He was sentenced to three years in prison as part of a plea deal.

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