Arrest warrants denied in connection to Marquette shooting incident

The Marquette County Prosecutor’s Office has denied arrest warrants for two men coming out of a reported shooting incident in Marquette in April.

ABC 10 made a Freedom of Information Act request to the Marquette Police Department regarding the incident.  Their response revealed that the shooting took place at 202 West Bluff Street in the early morning hours of April 6.

Zachary O’Connell, 26, was living in Apartment 1 of that building.  He was asleep when he heard people pounding on a door one floor above him.  O’Connell asked the group to be quiet.  An argument followed, and several men tried to wrestle his gun away from him.  During the struggle, the gun went off, and two of the men trying to take it away were hit.

Derek Wickingson, 21, of Ishpeming received gunshot wounds to the right side of his chest and his right hand.  Jarred Mathews, 35, of Algonquin, Illinois was also shot in the right hand.

Witnesses told police O’Connell was carrying a gun the first time he confronted the group.  O’Connell claimed that he did not come out with a gun right away.  He said he was unarmed when he left his apartment to tell the group that if they didn’t quiet down, he would call the police.  When he returned to his bedroom to get his phone, he heard people coming down the stairs and pounding on his door, and O’Connell said that’s when he got his gun.

He claimed he then found two men in his kitchen that had broken in.

O’Connell says the pair dragged him out of his apartment into a hallway and joined a group of people in punching and kicking him.  He told police that during the assault, someone else grabbed at his gun, causing it to fire.

The Marquette Police requested arrest warrants for O’Connell and Trevor Polkinghorne, 35, of Marquette for aggravated assault.  However, the Marquette County Prosecutor’s Office has denied the requests.

No one is facing any criminal charges in connection with the incident.