Waukesha Man Charged After Shooting Apartment Door

A 50-year-old Waukesha man is facing charges after he shot through an apartment door in Waukesha and was threatening residents with a rifle, according to a criminal complaint.

Craig J. Piek was charged in on Tuesday with one count of first-degree reckless endangerment, one count of criminal trespass, one count of battery and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. If convicted, he faces up to 14 years in prison and $45,500 in fines.

According to the criminal complaint:

On Jan. 8, Piek was in the hallway of an apartment complex in the 700 block of East North Street with a shotgun when he knocked on a resident’s door. A woman in the apartment looked through the peephole and saw him pointing a shotgun at her and wearing an Army jacket while yelling “I pay rent here, what are you doing in my apartment?”  

The woman said “OK, hold on a minute,” grabbed her cell phone, got on the floor next to her couch and called police.

Piek then went to the next apartment and shot out the peephole with a .22 caliber gun and kicked in the door. He began yelling “I’m the landlord, you’ve got 12, 24 hours to get out of here,” and when the man living there came out of his bedroom, Piek was aiming a rifle at him.

The man said “What the (expletive) are you doing Craig,” to which Piek responded “I’m the landlord and this is my land.” The man attempted to wrestle the gun away from Piek until police arrived.

Piek, who also had a knife and marijuana pipes on him, made nonsensical statements to officers and told them he was knocking on doors in the complex and if they didn’t answer the door he would “put a round through it” to let them know it was his apartment.

Piek was given a blood test, which later revealed he had marijuana, Cotinein, Benzodiazempines and Lorazapem in his system during the incident.

He’s currently being held in Waukesha County Jail on $5,000 bond while awaiting trial.