Wausau police: Man shot by officer wielded knife
WAUSAU - A Wausau police officer Saturday night shot and killed a man who was wielding a knife, according to Wausau Police Patrol Capt. Matt Barnes in a Sunday morning press conference.
Barnes told reporters that police responded around 9:35 p.m. Saturday to a domestic disturbance at Gilbert Street Apartments in Wausau. Barnes said police found probable cause to arrest a man, who was not initially found at his residence, and officers started to search for him in the area around the building.
They found him outside, and Barnes said the man entered a building at 725 Gilbert St. around 10:20 p.m. The officer tried to arrest the suspect but he grabbed a knife, Barnes said. The officer shot the suspect, who died at the scene. Barnes said the officer fired more than one shot.
The state Department of Justice will release any further information on the investigation, Barnes said.
Per department procedure, the officer, who police did not name Sunday, was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation by the DOJ's Division of Criminal Investigations.
Police would not release any details about the suspect's identity, including his name, age or ethnicity. Barnes said the department does not pay attention to ethnicity.
"He's a person, and that's how we see him," Barnes told reporters. "We don't care where you came from or the color of your skin."
Police early Sunday morning had blocked off traffic in the 700 block of Brown Street on the northeast side of the city, and a back entrance to an apartment building was taped off. A Wisconsin Department of Justice Crime Scene Response vehicle also was parked at the scene, and officials were moving in and out of the building. The brick building sits on a hill overlooking much of the city and is positioned next to the Forest Park Village nursing home, with which it shares a parking lot.
Wisconsin state law requires an investigation by an outside agency after an officer involved death, and Wausau police asked the Division of Criminal Investigation to review the incident. The DOJ declined to comment Sunday.
Neighbor Carolyn Johnson told a reporter she heard multiple gunshots Saturday night. She said a friend texted her near midnight to say police were in the area and she should lock her doors.
Another neighbor, Amber St. Clair, said she lives across the street from the scene of the incident and heard multiple "pops" Saturday night. The 25-year-old said she has lived in the neighborhood her whole life and has never seen this kind of police activity outside her home.
"This is supposed to be my home," she said. "It doesn't make you want to stay. That's too close to home."
According to online real estate records, there are two buildings at the Gilbert Street address, one that has four units and one that has 28; they were built in 1945. The site also bears a relationship to an infamous 2003 crime in Wausau; Kevin Zarm, who had been property manager there, was convicted in 2007 of slaying an 85-year-old Sylvia Grade at her Brown Street home, just across the street from the apartments.
The shooting is the second by a Wausau police officer in less than a year. On Aug. 22, 2015, a Wausau police officer shot a man during an alleged burglary of a home in the 800 block of South First Avenue. Adam Radek, who was shot in the incident, survived. The Wausau Police Department turned its investigation over to the state, and in November Marathon County District Attorney Ken Heimerman determined that the officer's actions were reasonable and lawful. Radek was charged with burglary, illegal possession of a firearm and possession of heroin in connection with the incident.
Before Saturday, five people had been shot and killed by police in Wisconsin, according to an ongoing reporting project by the Washington Post, which maintains a national database of police shootings. One of those, Jakob Wagner, was killed April 23 by Antigo police as he shot at high school prom-goers.
By late Sunday afternoon, the street where the shooting took place was no longer blocked off, and state investigators had completed interviews with many neighbors in the area. A Marathon County Sheriff's deputy stood watch outside the apartment, and a security guard at the apartment's entrance said the site would be guarded at least until Monday.
Sari Lesk: 715-345-2257 or sari.lesk@gannnettwisconsin.com; on Twitter @Sari_Lesk.
