Glenwood, WI – A St. Croix County sheriff’s deputy was fatally shot while responding to a call Saturday, May 6th evening in western Wisconsin. The deputy is the fourth law enforcement officer in the region to be fatally shot while responding to calls in the past month.
Authorities said Sunday that a suspected drunken driver shot and killed a Wisconsin sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop before running into some nearby woods and killing himself
The state Department of Justice said that during a conversation about field sobriety tests, Jeremiah Johnson was “evasive,” drew a handgun and shot St. Croix County Deputy Kaitie Leising in Glenwood, about 60 miles east of Minneapolis.
“After being struck, Deputy Leising discharged her weapon three times, but none of the rounds hit Johnson before he fled to the nearby wooded area,” the agency said.
People in another vehicle began lifesaving measures Saturday, but Leising, 29, was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt said it was the first time in her 23 years in law enforcement that she’s seen a female officer die in the line of duty.
“It’s one job and one standard, and we have all the same expectations when we pin these badges on,” Witt said. “But for it to be two women of the four here in the last month, that’s something you just don’t see.”