GLENWOOD, Wis. – A sheriff’s deputy was shot and killed Saturday in Northwest Wisconsin marking the third law enforcement agent to die in the line of duty.
In a press release from the Wisconsin Department of Justice, St. Croix County Sheriff’s Deputy Kaitie Leising was dispatched to the scene around 6:15pm after a drunk driver was reported in a ditch in the township of Glenwood.
When Deputy Leising arrived on scene, along with others who had stopped to assist, the driver was instructed to participate in field sobriety tests. After several minutes of dialogue, the driver drew a handgun and shot Deputy Leising, with Leising shooting back but missing. The suspect, later identified as 34 year old Jerimiah Johnson, ran off into a wooded area.
Those who had stopped to assist Deputy Leising attempted life saving measures, and after Leising was sent to a local hospital, where she later died. She was just 29 years old.
The DOJ says the suspect was found deceased with a gunshot wound later.
Following the passing of Deputy Leising, a law enforcement procession to the Medical Examiners office in the Twin Cities took place overnight. A second procession took place during the day Sunday back to St. Croix County.
Leising is now the fourth officer to be killed in Wisconsin this year, and just shy of a month removed from a shooting in the village of Cameron in Barron County, where officers Emily Breidenbach of Chetek and Hunter Scheel of Cameron were killed. Milwaukee Police officer Peter Jerving was shot and killed in the line of duty in February.