MAY 12, 2023:
HUDSON, Wis. (AP) — Some 1,500 law enforcement officers from several states were among 3,000 mourners paying their final respects to a Wisconsin sheriff’s deputy who was fatally shot by a suspected drunken driver during a traffic stop. The funeral for St. Croix County Sheriff’s Deputy Kaitlin “Kaitie” R. Leising was held Friday (May 12, 2023) in the gymnasium of Hudson High School while a montage of photos from her life were shown on a large screen overhead. Leising’s family, including her wife, Courtney, and their 3-month-old son, Syler, stood to the side of the casket, hugging visitors. Sheriff Scott Knudson said that in less than a year with his office, Leising earned commendations and the admiration of her colleagues.
MAY 8, 2023, UPDATE:
GLENWOOD, Wis. (AP) — 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, authorities said Sunday (May 7, 2023).
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 (97 kilometers) east of Minneapolis, the state Department of Justice said.
“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.
An hour after the shooting, an officer heard a gunshot in the woods and saw Johnson, 34, fall to the ground, investigators said.
Leising was hired by St. Croix County in 2022 after she spent approximately two years working for the sheriff’s office in Pennington County, South Dakota, St. Croix County Sheriff Scott Knudson said.
Leising’s body was being escorted by police back to Wisconsin from the medical examiner’s office in St. Paul, Minnesota.
“We will miss her infectious smile and personality. She will be missed by all she touched,” Knudson said.
MAY 8, 2023:
There are kind words and questions after a St. Croix County deputy was shot and killed while making a drunk driving stop Saturday night (May 6, 2023).
Deputy Kaitie Leising was 29-years-old.
Investigators say she was in the middle of an OWI (Operating While Intoxicated) stop when the man she’d stopped turned and shot her. She fired back, but missed. Leising later died at a local hospital. Other officers later found the suspect dead of what looks to be a suicide.
Leising had started with the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office last year, before that she worked with the Pennington County Sheriffs’ Office in South Dakota.
(Story courtesy of news partner Brian Winnekins, WRDN.)
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