La Crosse attempted murder suspect takes plea right after jury selected for trial

In an attempted murder case in La Crosse County court Monday, a jury was chosen quickly.

Shortly afterward, however, it wasn’t needed any more.

Damon Taylor reached a plea agreement on reduced charges, and the trial was called off.

The 35-year-old had been accused of attempted murder in April for shooting at two men trying to enter a south-side La Crosse house, where he was holed up.

Taylor was accused of shooting one of the men in the leg. That man ended up walking into the Pizza King, while the other man fired back.

A witness living across the road, who saw the shot man walk into the restaurant, said, “By the time he got to the Pizza King, I finally got dispatch on the phone and told them, ‘You need to get someone over here quick, I think there’s a gentleman that’s been shot in the leg.”

Vayou Yang continued: “There’s some gunshots outside my house. You need to get someone down here ASAP! He just walked into Pizza King!'” Yang said, reenacting the conversation with emotion. “They’re like, ‘Are you sure?’

“And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m standing across the street in my house. He’s in there!'”

Yang then gave dispatch a description of the man.

“Within a matter of, maybe 20 seconds, cops swarmed in, guns drawn and that was it,” he said.

Taylor held off police for several hours before surrendering.