A man involved in a deadly standoff in Dane County was adamant about one thing: he was not going back to jail. Sheriff Dave Mahoney says the suspect was in violation of parole, and was also under investigation for felony sexual assault. Mahoney says the 47 year-old man, whose name has not been released, had barricaded himself in the basement of a home he shared with his mother and stepfather in the Village of McFarland. The man, says Mahoney “had indicated to family and friends that he very well may be shooting this out with law enforcement.”
McFarland officers had gone to the home just before 7:00 Tuesday night to arrest the man in connection with a domestic disturbance earlier that day. Acting McFarland police chief Brian Redman says it was a fight between the man and his stepfather. Redman also says the man had just recently moved into the home. The suspect reportedly said he was not going back to jail, and holed himself up in a basement bedroom.
Mahoney says law enforcement tried to negotiate with the man for several hours. Early Wednesday morning, after the suspect downed a bunch of pills, tactical team officers attempted to put a camera into the basement bedroom. At that point Mahoney says, the man opened fire, and officers returned fire. It’s unclear at this point whether the man died from those shots or from a self-inficted gunshot.
Robin Colbert, WIBA