By Joe Bachman
Editor

STEVENS POINT — After over two years after the initial incident, 32-year-old Kyle Engen was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the Maech 2016 shooting death of 21-year-old Deonta Lezine.

According to reports, on March 17, 2016, authorities responded to a shooting at the intersection of Fifth and Minnesota Avenues at approximately 7:46 p.m. Various witnesses reported hearing gunshots, followed by the sound of tires squealing. Police would find five spent .380 shell casings and shattered glass on the scene.

Lezine was found later at Berg Gym on the UWSP campus with related injuries, which he would later succumb to. Engen was found weeks later in Colorado and promptly arrested. Engen was believed to have come to the area to sell $7,200 pounds of marijuana from Lezine and a man now identified as 23-year-old Deion Jones.

Instead of paying Engen, the roommate said the plan was for Lezine, who had been a Golden Gloves boxer, to punch Engen in the jaw and render him unconscious. The trio would then take possession of the marijuana and remove Engen from the vehicle.

However, the all didn’t go as plan, as after failing to knock out Engen, he got out of the vehicle and fired several shots at the car as it sped away, thereby hitting Lezine in the process.