EASTMAN - A 47-year-old Roscoe, Ill. man has been charged in the near fatal shooting of a Monticello man early Friday morning near Eastman. Lee Kennedy is charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, endangering safety by intoxicated use of a firearm, and felon in possession of a firearm.

On Friday, Oct. 25 at approximately 1:20 a.m. the Crawford County Dispatch received a 911 call from a female who stated that she was in a vehicle in a driveway and the male driver of the vehicle had been shot in the head as they were going out of the driveway.  The female caller said that the back window of the truck was blown out from the bullet and she had no idea where she was. 

Dispatch was able to locate the caller by cell phone coordinates, which showed she was on Martin Lane in Eastman Township.

The woman, Jennifer Glass, 40, Soldiers Grove, stated that she and the male victim, Jason Melvin, 47, of Monticello, had given a man that they had met at a local tavern, a ride to a cabin where he was staying because he was out celebrating his birthday and was too intoxicated to drive. 

Glass said that when they arrived at the cabin, they went into an RV type camper parked beside the cabin and continued to celebrate the man’s birthday.   Glass said that they were there for about 45 minutes and when they were driving away someone shot into the truck through the back window striking Melvin in the back of the head.

Melvin was taken to Crossing Rivers Hospital and Med Flighted to UW Hospital, where he is in critical condition.  Glass was not injured.

Kennedy was taken into custody by the Crawford County Sheriff’s Departmen with the assistance of the La Crosse County Tactical Team and their BearCat.