Portage Shooting Involving Neighbors Will be Ruled Justifiable

The small town of Portage is located roughly 30 minutes from Madison and unless you are a serial killer nut, you may not have heard too much as the town is mainly famous for housing Jeffrey Dahmer during his prison sentence. However, Portage is in the news right now thanks to a deadly incident that started as a simple neighborly fight but ended in bloodshed.

The incident we are taking a look at today occurred last Monday Evening at the Portage Court Apartments at around 5:00 PM. It saw two neighbors, 54-year-old Victor Reynolds and 49-year-old Calvin Eldridge get into an argument regarding Reynolds playing music loudly from his apartment. 

Eldridge wasn’t a fan of the volume so he went over to Reynolds’ place and asked him to turn down the music. Reynolds would not comply with the request so Eldridge left in a huff, slamming Reynolds’ door behind him. This did not sit well with Reynolds who got up and followed Eldridge out of the apartment and attacked him, starting a fist fight between the two.

According to local police, there has been a history of disputes between the two men. The issues have ranged from noise complaints to harassment reports. 

But this time things came to a serious finality. As Reynolds continued his attack, Eldridge began to seriously fear for his safety so he pulled out a concealed handgun that was on his person and when Reynolds’ attack would not cease, Eldridge fired at Reynolds, killing him in the process.

Eldridge was taken in by police following the incident, but after further investigation into the incident, local police have only charged Calvin Eldridge with reckless endangerment, but not homicide, following the incident.  It seems as though the police have seen this as an unfortunate case of a fight gone too far and Eldridge being well within his rights to defend himself.

But what do you think of this incident? Would you consider this justified or would you refer to it as a negligent discharge of Calvin Eldridge’s firearm? Let us know in the comments below.