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Two off-duty Wisconsin police officers killed in separate incidents overnight

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Officer Kou Her

Two off duty Wisconsin police officers were killed in separate incidents overnight. Milwaukee Officer Kou Her died after being struck by a speeding driver who ran a red light at around 1:30 a.m. Her had just ended his shift. The suspect is in custody. And in Racine, a manhunt is underway for a suspect who shot and killed Officer John Hetland after Hetland attempted to stop an armed robbery at Teezers bar Monday night.

Hetland is a 24-year veteran of the Racine Police Department. “Officer Hetland was a trusted and highly respected member of the department, serving in various positions over the years, including an assignment as a field training officer, as well as a member of the Greater Racine FBI Gang Task Force,” said the Racine Police Department in a news release.

Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales held a news conference and said that Her is a two-year veteran of the police department and was assigned to District 4. Witnesses say the suspect was traveling at a high rate of speed — and crossed the intersection at a red light when he struck Her.

Officer John Hetland

Morales said the suspect in this case is a 34-year-old Milwaukee resident with four OWI convictions in Wisconsin. His most recent was in May 2017 — and he was still on probation for that one.

Wounded Wood County deputy was hit by ‘friendly fire’ during fatal shooting

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Investigators are confirming that a deputy injured in a Tuesday night fatal shooting in Wood County was shot by another deputy.

Wood County Sheriff Shawn Becker says deputies shot and killed a suicidal man with a knife during a struggle, and that a deputy and a bystander were injured in the crossfire. 

Deputies tried to save the life of the man they shot, but he died at the scene.

The deputy was taken to Marshfield Clinic Hospital for treatment and has since been released. The identity and condition of the other victim has not been released, other than that they will survive.

The two deputies involved in the shooting are 6 and 16-year veterans of the department according to Becker. Both have completed a 40-hour crisis intervention team training to respond to similar calls.

The deputies are currently on paid administrative leave while the incident is under investigation as is standard protocol.

The Department of Justice is handling the investigation.

WSAU

Police standoff closes I-94 in Waukesha County, two suspects in hospital

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A standoff that closed I-94 in Waukesha County overnight has lead to the arrest and hospitalization of two suspects.

Waukesha County sheriff Eric Severson says the incident started after a DNR warden tried to arrest a suspect who then fled from the scene. Deputies fired at the suspects when a man pointed a gun out the window after his vehicle was disabled.

“A male from within the vehicle called the Waukesha County Communications Center and demanded to speak to a negotiator. The male barricaded himself within the vehicle and alleged he was holding a female hostage.”

Severson says officers eventually forced the two out of the vehicle with gas. “As the male fled the vehicle with the gun pointed at the female, two tactical officers fired at the male, striking him multiple times. The female resisted tactical officers, and was taken into custody with a struggle. During the struggle it is believed that the female stabbed a Waukesha County Sheriff’s K9, K9 Justice.”

The man is currently in critical condition. The case has been handed over to the State Division of Criminal Investigation.

Fricke to stand trial in killing of Officer Matthew Rittner

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The man charged with killing Milwaukee Police Officer Matthew Rittner is headed for trial in July. Twenty-six year-old Jordan Fricke appeared in a wheelchair for his pretrial hearing Tuesday morning.

Fricke is accused of killing Rittner in February when he fired an AK-47 semiautomatic pistol through a door as officers attempted to execute a search warrant. Rittner served 17 years in the Milwaukee Police Department and two tours in Iraq. Fricke is charged with first-degree intentional homicide and other charges.

Suspect in Carly Beaudin beating death to remain at Mendota for now

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The man charged in the horrific death of nurse practitioner Carlie Beaudin will remain committed at Mendota Mental Health Center, at least for now. The 33-year-old victim was found brutally beaten and frozen to the ground in a parking structure at Milwaukee’s Froedert Hospital in January.

A doctor’s report presented in court Tuesday said that 27-year-old Kenneth Freeman is not competent to stand trial. Another doctor’s report is due August 5th. Prosecutors allege Freemen kicked and stomped Beaudin’s head and neck more than 40 times before ditching her body.

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Joint Finance approves increases to public defenders, district attorneys offices

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Public defenders and district attorneys will be getting more funding in the upcoming state budget.

Democrat State representative Evan Goyke says the current public defender rates are so low that most attorneys can’t afford to handle them.

“There are counties, especially in northern Wisconsin that call dozens, dozens, dozens, hundreds of lawyers before they can find somebody willing to take on that criminal case.”

Republicans on the joint finance committee approved that funding on Tuesday. The Republican version of the plan will increase hourly rates for defenders to 70 dollars an hour, but does not tie that increase to the rate of inflation like Democrats wanted.

The move will also add 34 new staff members and assistant district attorneys across the state. Goyke says better funding for both the public defenders and prosecutors will help defendants and victims get their cases through the courts.

“Too often they’re just sitting there, waiting for the show to start, waiting for somebody to be their voice, so figure out what’s going to happen.”

Republican state representative Amy Loudenbeck calls it a compromise.

“I understand that there’s a couple small discrepancies, but I think in the end we’re trying to make up for some things that we haven’t been able to do for a long long time.”

Joint Finance will be taking Thursday off, and will meet again next week Tuesday to continue working on the budget.

Kelly to seek 10 year term on Wisconsin Supreme Court

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Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly is seeking a 10-year term. The 55-year-old Kelly, a member of the court’s conservative majority, was appointed in 2016 by former Governor Scott Walker to fill the unexpired term of David Prosser.

Kelly said Tuesday that he decided to seek a full term after hearing from enthusiastic voters following the April Supreme Court win of conservative appeals court judge Brian Hagedorn. Kelly faces Dane County Judge Jill Karofsky and Marquette University Law School professor Ed Fallone in a February primary.
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Patterson gets two life sentences in Closs case

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Two life sentences without the possibility of parole for the man who kidnapped 13-year-old Jayme Closs and killed her parents. Judge James C. Babler handed down the ruling in a Barron County Court for Jake Patterson. He will also serve a 40-year sentence for the kidnapping charge.

“There is no doubt in my mind that you are one of the most dangerous men to ever walk on this planet. You are the embodiment of evil. And the public can only be safe if you are incarcerated until you die,” Babler said

Jayme Closs did not appear in court, but a lawyer read a statement written by the 13-year-old. The teen asked the judge to give Patterson the maximum sentence for his crimes. “I feel like what he did is what a coward would do. I was brave, he was not. He thought that he could own me, but he was wrong. I was smarter. I watched his routine and I took back my freedom. I will always have my freedom and he will not.”

Defense attorneys said Patterson has clearly accepted responsibility for his acts and asked the judge to keep the possibility of parole as part of the sentence, not so Patterson could actually ever get out of prison, but so he could have different rehabilitation options while in prison.

The 21-year-old Patterson also addressed the court. “I would do absolutely anything to take back what I did. I would do. I would do absolutely anything to bring them back. i don’t care about me. i’m just so sorry.”

Barron County District Attorney Brian Wright, in a 40 minute presentation, showed crime scene photos from the Closs home and the cabin where Patterson held Closs after kidnapping her. The courtroom also heard a recording of the 911 call made by Closs’s mother Denise just before she was killed.

Jayme escaped in January after being held by Patterson for 88 days at a house in Douglas County. Patterson had earlier entered guilty pleas on all the charges against him.

Lawsuit over construction of new Kohler golf course reaches State Supreme Court

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The legal battles over the construction of a new Kohler golf course have reached the State Supreme Court.

The State Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit over the annexation of land between Sheboygan and the Town of Wilson.

Wilson leaders say that that property was annexed specifically for Kohler by the city after Wilson rejected the construction of the new course alongside Kohler Andrae State Park. Sheboygan says the annexation is a legitimate expansion of the city.

This is just one of multiple lawsuits against the new course. Environmental groups have also filed suit against the DNR for originally approving the plan, saying it would damage delicate wetlands in the park.  

Slain Appleton firefighter identified as Mitch Lundgaard

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“Today has been a difficult day. There will be many more difficult days to come,” Appleton Police Chief Todd Thomas said during a Thursday afternoon press conference where he identified the fallen Appleton firefighter as Mitch Lundgaard.

Lundgaard, a fourteen year veteran of the Appleton Fire Department was struck by gunfire along with a female bystander and an Appleton Police officer during a medical assistance call Wednesday at the downtown Valley Transit Center.

Appleton Fire Chief Jeremy Hansen said Lundgaard had a wife and three young children. “This has been a trying 24-hours for our department and our community.” Wednesday evening, Appleton police and fire personnel were initially called to assist a 47-year-old man who was having a medical emergency, which Thomas described as a seizure.

Thomas said the man arrived on a bus and they believe that he is from the Wausau area. After receiving medical attention, Thomas said the man pulled a small handgun and began to open fire.

Lundgaard was struck and had to be transported to an Appleton hospital where he later died from his injuries. The 47-year-old shooter also died from his injuries. The Appleton police officer was released from the hospital on Thursday and the woman is in stable condition.

The investigation is being led by the Green Bay Police Department.

WTAQ