Police shoot suspect in Waukesha Meijer hostage situation
Police said they received a call on July 30 just before 6 p.m. The caller, a man, told dispatchers that he had a knife and had a hostage.
WAUKESHA, Wis. —
A hostage situation at the Meijer on Sunset Drive is over, resulting in a suspect shot and at a hospital, a 59-year-old victim injured, and a 26-year-old Waukesha police officer on administrative leave.
Police said they received a call on July 30 just before 6 p.m. The caller, a man, told dispatchers that he had a knife and had a hostage. He also demanded to speak with a hostage negotiator.
Police never provided an age for the suspect.
A trained crisis negotiator spoke to the suspect over the phone as police responded to the Meijer. Police said this all happened in the middle of the store and in front of multiple witnesses. When police arrived, they found the man, armed with a knife, close to a 59-year-old man.
Police said officers gave multiple commands to the suspect to drop the knife. According to police, based on the suspect’s actions and the threat he posed, one officer, a 26-year-old man with five years of experience, shot the suspect, putting an end to the hostage situation. A knife was recovered at the scene near the suspect.
The suspect was taken to a hospital and remains in critical condition. It is unknown if his current condition is stable. The 59-year-old victim was also checked out at the scene and was taken to a hospital for what police describe as “non-life-threatening injuries.” Police could not say if the victim was injured by the man’s knife or some other way. No officers were injured.
The officer involved has been placed on administrative leave, which is standard policy for officer-involved shootings.
The Greenfield Police Department is the lead agency for this investigation.
It’s still being investigated as to whether or not the suspect and victim knew each other.
Police said they have dealt with the suspect in the past, but would not go into detail about what that involved.
The incident was caught on body camera, police said.
After Thursday night’s news conference, WISN 12 News’ Derrick Rose asked Waukesha police Chief Daniel Thompson if he already watched the body camera footage. Chief Thompson said he has seen it and said, “Our officers acted within training. They acted in a way that’s consistent with our policies, our training, and what we expect our officers to do when they come in contact with these type of situations. It’s something we don’t ever want to be involved in, but we’re put in those situations at times, and our officers acted accordingly.”
You can watch the Waukesha Police Department’s full news conference on this in the video below.