Funeral services for slain St. Croix County Sheriff’s Deputy Kaitie Leising will be Friday at Hudson High School. Sheriff Scott Knudson said the 29-year-old was killed last weekend on what should have been a routine impaired driver call
“For reasons that we’ll probably never know, this morally bankrupt and ethically challenged criminal decides to turn and murder Kaitie,” Knudson said Tuesday.
Knudson said he’s saddened by the loss to Leising’s family. “Her wife is at home. She’s got a three month old baby. And they’ll never get to see Kaitie again.”
Liesing’s fatal shooting by an intoxicated driver who also killed himself came just over a month after the gun deaths of two police officers in Barron County during a traffic stop.
“Our office, our deputies, our law enforcement community is hurting, again, in this region,” Knudson said.
Knudson thanked law enforcement and communities in both Wisconsin and Minnesota. Alleged shooter Jeremiah Johnson took his own life. He had an extensive criminal record in Minnesota.
Governor Tony Evers signed Executive Order #199 ordering the flags of the United States and the state of Wisconsin to be flown at half-staff on Friday in honor of Deputy Leising.