On Saturday, Feb. 10, two 19-year-old men from Sturgeon Bay, Willard Hartman and Benjamin Krohn, attended a basketball game at Homestead High School. Upon leaving the school, they were pulled over for an illegal U-turn on Mequon Road. 

During the traffic stop, the police smelled marijuana and searched the vehicle. The police discovered five guns (two handguns and three assault rifles), ammunition, Oxycodone, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and alcohol.

The intent was to, “to trade or sell them to someone,”  Krohn said of the items. Krohn confessed to the police that the guns belonged to him and that he and Hartman went to Homestead to watch one of their friends on the Sturgeon Bay boys basketball team play. While the guns were not brought into the school, they were on school property. Due to Homestead’s drug-free zone policy, the two teens have a combined 25 criminal charges.

In an email to parents and guardians, Superintendent Matthew Joynt said, “While it is unsettling to know that strangers were on our campus over the weekend with guns, they were not targeting anyone here or targeting our school.”

“What happened this weekend is frightening, it is frightening because it reminds all of us that when we are in public places, that you could be in the presence of someone who is unsafe,” Principal Brett Bowers said in an announcement to the students and faculty Thursday morning.

Hartman and Krohn made their initial court appearances on Feb. 12 and were released on $5,000 cash bond. The two are due back in court March 6, and if convicted, can face fines and prison time.