Sheboygan police report reveals more about March shooting and standoff on South Ninth Street that left suspect dead

SHEBOYGAN – A Sheboygan Police Department incident report obtained by Sheboygan Press provides new information about the events that unfolded during the March 13 shooting incident near the 2700 block of South Ninth Street.

After emergency services received a 911 call that morning of a possible explosion resulting in injury, police arrived at the scene to find the victim, a 31-year-old Sheboygan man, with a gunshot wound under his right eye.

What followed was a nearly six-hour shelter-in-place order for the area as police attempted to make contact with the suspect inside his home.

That afternoon, when officers tried to enter the home, the 52-year-old suspect was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Here is what the Sheboygan Press knows about what transpired on the scene from the incident report and the latest in the foreclosure process. The report was provided by the SPD following an open records request.

The Sheboygan Press is not naming the individual involved in this incident because of the sensitive nature of and circumstances surrounding the victim's injuries and suspect's death. The SPD also hasn't provided the victim's name.

What happened to the victim after he was shot?

The victim received on-scene medical attention, was transported to Aurora Medical Center–Sheboygan County and was then flown to Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee for non-life-threatening injuries.

According to the incident report, the bullet hit the victim about a quarter inch below his right eye. There was no exit wound. The bullet lodged somewhere in his neck area. He walked back to his car in the driveway and called 911. His eye area and eyelid had imploded, resulting in an open wound. The victim has undergone several surgeries since.

SPD Capt. Doug Teunissen said the bullet hasn’t been removed from the victim’s neck. The department spoke with the victim’s family a couple of weeks ago and learned he is still recovering. Teunissen said the victim’s injuries, including loss of vision in his right eye, will be with him for the rest of his life.

Did the suspect and victim know each other?

The victim and suspect did not know each other, according to the incident report.

The victim was an independent contractor, hired by a third party, to change the locks at the house at 2717 S. Ninth St.

What happened from the victim’s perspective?

The victim parked his white Chevrolet Equinox in the house’s driveway and went around to the back deck the morning of March 13. He was there to change locks on the property, which was foreclosed.

The victim later told emergency medical service workers when he first arrived at the house, he knocked on the door and received no answer.

After he began preparing to work on the back patio door lock, he heard “noise and movement” from inside the home. The victim had thought there may not be anyone at the house anymore because of an “eviction” tag on one of the doors, so thought nothing of the sounds.

He didn’t see anyone or hear anyone speak. The victim hadn’t been threatened. He was working on the house the day before, according to the report, and there was no one there then, either.

He was shot about 20 minutes after arriving at the house. A police account and a walk-through of the scene after the incident indicate a small hole in the glass patio door could’ve been from the bullet.

The victim said he couldn’t identify who shot him.

Was this the first attempt to change the house’s locks?

No. There was a previous attempt to change the locks at the house a month earlier.

SPD responded to an anonymous call that there was suspicious activity going on at the property Feb. 6. Officers Dustin Fickett and Matt Heimerl determined people on the property — workers from a company hired to change the locks — were lawfully there.

While there, a man inside the house declined to open the door to speak with Officer Fickett. The man is the same one involved in the March 13 shooting.

“He made comments similar to the property belonging to him, and similar to that he is not leaving,” Fickett wrote in the report.

“At that time, no law enforcement action was to be taken given nothing occurred requiring such," Fickett's report added. "In that matter, we had the two workers collect their tools safely, and they decided to leave on their own will.”

Why was the contractor shot?

During a phone call with negotiators, the suspect brought up the shooting.

He told officers he had experienced previous burglaries, talking specifically about one that occurred while he was at a mental health institute. He said the morning of March 13, he thought someone was trying to break into his home.

He claimed to have “no idea” who the victim was and said he was defending himself and his property.

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What else was said with the negotiators?

Detective Rebecca Rupnick attempted negotiations with the suspect during the incident. She tried to call and text the suspect from around 10:37 a.m. to 11:10 a.m. the day of the incident. Rupnick did not receive any response from these attempts.

She made contact with the suspect’s half-brother and a former partner who hadn’t had contact with the suspect in a decade. Two officers reported the former partner was an ex-wife. One said she was an ex-girlfriend.

Court records show the suspect got divorced in 2013.

Rupnick learned from them the suspect was estranged from his family, had threatened some family members in the past and had a history with alcohol, substance abuse and threatening, erratic behavior.

Negotiations were moved to the scene, where messages were shared over a loudspeaker. Some included saying the suspect was “ordered” to leave the house unarmed with his hands up; officers may enter the residence if he didn’t leave; he was under arrest; and the police had a search warrant.

Officer Alicia Kegler continued contact attempts via phone during this time.

With a lack of communication from the suspect, Emergency Response Team personnel prepared to breach the front door.

Rupnick then got a call from the suspect, the report said. The conversation lasted more than an hour and a half. She made several requests and orders for the suspect to leave the residence unarmed. Throughout the conversation, he refused to leave his house and, at times, said his doors were barricaded and he couldn’t leave.

The suspect made paranoid, delusional and suicidal statements on the phone, Rupnick said in the report. He talked about conspiracy theories and made suicidal statements. He said he was isolated and couldn’t deal with his financial issues. The suspect also expressed concern for his cat Ginger — fear that some people would hurt or take her “after he was gone.” One officer reported the suspect wanted police to look after the cat.

After Rupnick told the suspect the ERT was preparing to breach the door, the suspect refused to leave and made more suicidal statements.

“I could hear the breach on the phone, as well as what sounded like a possible gunshot,” Rupnick said in the report.

Officers report the shots were fired after the front door was breached. The suspect stopped responding to Rupnick, but she stayed on the phone to try to get a response from him.

Rupnick stayed on the phone until she was notified the suspect was dead.

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How many gunshots were heard inside the home after the breach?

Several officers said it sounded like one or two gunshots went off inside the residence after the breach. No officers returned fire or were injured by the suspect.

What did police find inside the home?

Officers found the suspect sitting on the couch in the living room with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A silver handgun was in either his right hand or lap, according to police accounts.

Personnel removed the firearm, checked for signs of life and found no pulse.

Police collected electronics, ammunition, a notebook and other documents around the house for evidence. One document appeared to show the suspect renounced his U.S. citizenship and declared himself a sovereign citizen.

No one else was in the house, but a cat was found in a bedroom and given over to the Sheboygan County Humane Society. The Humane Society told the Sheboygan Press the cat received a rabies shot and was reclaimed.

Detective Paul Olsen photographed water jugs and various food containers with long shelf lives in the basement, which was barricaded. On the first floor, he took photos of a propane stove, prone heater and a roughly 80- to 100-pound propane tank.

“It appeared [the suspect] was planning to live in his residence without leaving it, even if water and gas were shut off,” Olsen said in the report.

Olsen said it was “evident there were significant efforts made to barricade the interior of the residence.”

Windows and doors throughout the house were duct taped with black plastic and barricaded with plywood reinforced with large boards. Most of the plywood pieces were drilled with holes, which police suspect to be "peep” holes for a firearm. The only window in the house not reinforced with wood was a skylight in the bathroom, Olsen said. It was covered with black plastic and duct tape.

Did Sheboygan PD evacuate residents out of the neighborhood?

As the incident was underway, Detective Olsen saw several neighbors near the scene observing through their windows. He requested dispatch inform nearby residents to shelter in place and move to their basements.

Olsen and other personnel contacted residents living adjacent to the home and asked residents to voluntarily evacuate the area. Ten people were evacuated. Shoreline Metro was summoned to assist with taking them from and back to the area after the situation was resolved.

Is this the suspect’s first reported instance of violence or threatening behavior?

Personnel learned the suspect had previous threatening behavior from researching past calls for service to the address.

The suspect had a recent welfare check. In an unrelated case, he had made threats to law enforcement and remarks about shooting his family, one officer said in the report.

Last fall, the department received an anonymous report that the suspect had a drug and alcohol relapse and allegedly had a handgun in his possession.

What happened in the foreclosure case?

A judge granted a default judgment for foreclosure, with a three-month redemption period. Typically, in these cases, redemption still gives property owners the chance to reclaim the home upon paying outstanding mortgage payments and incurred fees, even when in default. The case is closed.

Wells Fargo, the plaintiff in the foreclosure case against the listed owner of the house, sought unpaid mortgage payments amounting to more than $114,000.

Wells Fargo moved for default because neither the former homeowner, who is deceased, or a Jane Doe listed with the property occupy it or could be contacted for the foreclosure case. The default notice was sent to the property, according to a May 2 certificate of mailing.

What is still on the scene?

The Sheboygan Press went to the house May 8 and found it largely undisturbed from the days following the March 13 incident.

The front door threshold and window are still boarded up, though a sign that indicated the property was temporarily secured is gone. Broken window siding has been removed, but smashed windows haven't been repaired yet.

Grass has grown over deep tire tracks from a SWAT vehicle that police drove onto the hill of the house, ramming through the front door and front window. The tree in the front yard has bloomed.

A broken part of the fence in the back yard was fixed. Residents who previously spoke with the Sheboygan Press had differing accounts of how it broke: one said it was broken for some time before the March incident and another said the police broke it.

Teunissen said the department doesn’t know who cleaned up the debris or fixed the fence.

Have a story tip or public interest concern? Contact Sam Bailey at sgbailey@gannett.com or 573-256-9937. To stay up to date on her stories and other news, follow her on X (Twitter) @SamarahBailey. Contact Alex Garner at 224-374-2332 or agarner@gannett.com. Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @alexx_garner.

This article originally appeared on Sheboygan Press: Sheboygan police report sheds light on shooting, standoff on S. Ninth