Leader Staff
A Gillett man charged with taking a hostage during a standoff with sheriff’s deputies in Wittenberg was found competent this week to stand trial.
Travis W. Keiler, 29, was arrested April 22 after a two-hour standoff. He faces a felony count of taking hostages while using a dangerous weapon.
A preliminary hearing in the case was delayed for a competency evaluation. He was ruled competent at a court hearing Monday.
Keiler waived the preliminary hearing and entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. He is being held on a $50,000 cash bond and is scheduled for a status conference on June 30.
Keiler is accused of going armed into the Wittenberg Shell station and McDonald’s, 413 N. Genesee St., where he said he “wanted to shoot it out with the police,” according to the criminal complaint.
Keiler let everyone out of the building except for a lone McDonald’s employee, whom he kept as a hostage for about an hour.
Keiler told a hostage negotiator he had quit his job in De Pere and had been driving around before ending up at the Wittenberg Shell station.
The negotiator convinced Keiler to release his hostage as a sign of good faith after about an hour. Keiler surrendered peacefully an hour after that.
Keiler could face a maximum 40 years in prison and $100,000 fine if found guilty. He also faces a felony count of failing to comply with an officer’s attempt to take him into custody, which carries a maximum 3 1/2 year sentence and $10,000 fine, as well as misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon.