Woman held in shooting incident at estranged husband’s house

Bond was set at $500,000 on Jan. 7 for a former Tigerton area woman accused of shooting her estranged husband in the leg during an argument over another woman.

Tina L. McCandless, 48, of Menasha, was charged with attempted first-degree homicide and first-degree recklessly endangerment in connection with the Jan. 4 incident at her husband’s home on Dent Creek Road in the Town of Morris.

Judge Katherine Sloma adjourned McCandless’ initial appearance until 1:30 p.m. Jan. 19.

According to the criminal complaint, officers were called to Mark A. McCandless’ home at 12:36 a.m. Jan. 4 on a report that shots had been fired and an individual was wounded in the leg. The responding officer found the couple across from each other with a .22 caliber pistol on a living room table.

Mark McCandless said they had gone out for drinks, and then Tina left to go back to Menasha, where she was staying with family. Later he woke up to find her holding the pistol, and she told him to put his wedding ring back on. When he declined because the marriage is over, she fired off a round, the complaint said.

The court document said she then chased him through the house, occasionally firing the pistol, and one of the bullets struck him in the calf. At one point, he grabbed for the weapon and they struggled, and he was able to restrain her long enough to call police, the complaint said.

The gun was registered in Mark McCandless’ name, and at first Tina claimed self-defense, telling the investigator that he had the gun and it went off as they struggled, but the location of the spent casings — officers found more than a half-dozen rounds scattered around the house — lent credence to his version of events.

Online court documents indicate that the couple filed for divorce at the end of October, and a stipulated divorce hearing is scheduled for March 15. The complaint indicates that Tina McCandless had just found out her estranged husband has begun dating another woman.