The shooting death of a Dodgeville man, 18 year old Gunnar Holum, last weekend on Madison’s Near West Side began as a drug transaction that became violent when the would-be drug seller pulled out a gun to rob the buyers, then shot one of them. Prosecutors are expected to file formal charges Monday against 20 year old Marcus Hamilton of Madison, who is tentatively charged with first-degree intentional homicide for the shooting death Saturday of Holum. Holum graduated from Southwest Tech in Fennimore Friday with a certificate in welding, one day before he was shot to death. Bail for Hamilton was set at $1 million during a brief appearance Tuesday in Dane County Circuit Court. Hamilton is scheduled to next appear in court Monday. A report says police were sent at 1:18 p.m. to Spruce Street in Madison for a report of shots being fired. When officers arrived, they found Holum with a gunshot wound. He was taken to UW Hospital and pronounced dead just before 2 p.m. A witness said Holum was in the driver’s seat of a car, and that a round went through the back of the seat and struck Holum. The witness told police the group in the car with Holum was meeting Hamilton to buy drugs. While the transaction was happening, the witness said, Hamilton pulled out a handgun and said several times, “Give me everything you have.” The witness said Hamilton pointed the gun at everyone in the car, then aimed it at Holum and fired twice from a distance of about five feet.
