Defense Articles

A man who police arrested after a dramatic chase last week now faces a federal charge.

Christopher Kim Leech appeared in U.S. District Court Monday morning after a federal charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon was filed against him on Friday.

Leech, 28, was wanted in connection with a March 15 road rage incident in which police say he fired several rounds at another vehicle while his wife and two young children were with him. A warrant for his arrest on attempted murder was issued in state court.

Police say they received a tip that Leech was at a residence in Ogden. Leech fled from police Thursday and lead officers on a brief chase in Riverdale where police cars boxed him in. Leech was Tasered by an officer when he was seen reaching into his pants.

According to the complaint filed in federal court, police later found a .22-caliber handgun in Leech’s right front pocket with a fully loaded 15-round magazine. Another 15-round magazine was also found in an accessory pants pocket.

On Monday, Leech was provided the copy of the charge against him. He faces a maximum of up to 10 years in federal prison. Federal prosecutors pointed out that Leech has a lengthy criminal history, including convictions for assault, riot, theft and possession of stolen property.

Prosecutors say they will seek a grand jury indictment as early as Wednesday and are seeking to have Leech detained pending trial.

Circuit Court

A man hired to fix the roof on a Mukwonago couple’s house cleaned out their gun cabinet while he was on the job, a criminal complaint says.

Chad A. Stechauner, 28, 317 N. Rochester St., Mukwonago, has been charged with burglary for stealing 10 firearms from the Town of Mukwonago home last July, according to the complaint, filed Monday in Waukesha County Circuit Court.

Stechauner told police he went into the house for a drink of water and once inside, “he could not say why, but he started to look around the house . . . he stated the whole incident was rather blurry.”

Stechauner said he had been drinking heavily and was not sure why he had taken the guns.

The National Firearms Museum, based in Virginia and sponsored by the National Rifle Association, displays 2,000 firearms in 85 exhibits in 14 galleries. The 15,000-square-foot museum is divided into interests and eras. Of particular interest to veterans are the sections on America’s wars: Revolutionary, 1812, Texas Independence, Mexican, Civil, Indian, Spanish-American, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Persian Gulf.

As NRA National Firearms Museum Assistant Curator Karin Johnston put it, “It’s an American history lesson here, regardless of your feelings about firearms.”

Indeed it is. So see “freedom’s firearms”–the weapons that won and assured our nation’s independence from 1607 to 1991–firsthand.

The War of 1812 is well-represented by an assortment of muskets and flintlock pistols manufactured at the Harpers Ferry Armory.

Flintlocks from the Revolutionary War (1775-1782) surround portraits of founding fathers Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and George Washington (America’s foremost veteran).

Australian soldiers and Doughboys of the U.S. 27th Infantry Division served together in France’s trenches during 1917-18. Various WWI machine guns and rifles are displayed in this front-line scene.

A mannequin of a black “Buffalo Soldier,” different hunting rifles and weapons and cavalry accoutrements round out the exhibit on the Western frontier. Arms there were a part of daily life.

GIs of the 116th Inf. Regt., 29th Div., are positioned at a command post along Omaha Beach in June 1944. They are examining a store of captured German weapons and equipment.