A married couple are dead in an incident of gun violence in northwestern Wisconsin. The Bayfield County Sheriff’s Department received a call early Sunday morning reporting that someone had been shot – and then the phone went dead.
The Communications Center was able plot the cell phone call to a residence on the Stuart Road in the Town of Kelly.
Responding officers found a man and woman on the ground outside the home with apparent gunshot wounds. The woman was dead and the man was airlifted to a Duluth hospital, where he later died.
The victims have been identified as 44-year-old Shelly Johanik and her husband, 59-year-old Randy Loppnow. All evidence in the investigation suggests that Loppnow deliberately shot his wife and then himself before deputies and first responders arrived.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice Crime Lab and the Wisconsin State Patrol were called to assist in the documentation and processing at the crime scene.
KDAL