A domestic violence suspect in Wisconsin engaged in a tense standoff after shooting a police officer and crashing his van into a school. For four hours, he roamed the school halls with a rifle before surrendering to authorities.
The chaotic sequence of events began early Sunday morning when police in Superior responded to a domestic disturbance call. Officers spotted the suspect’s vehicle and attempted to pull him over, according to a report by KQDS.
The suspect, identified as 28-year-old Dylan Wallace, exited his van and fired at an officer with a semi-automatic rifle, hitting her several times before she could leave her patrol car. The officer returned fire, and another officer soon joined, managing to hit Wallace as he attempted to escape back into his van.
In his escape, Wallace drove into the entrance of Superior Middle School, where he left his vehicle once more. Surveillance footage captured him wandering the corridors with his rifle slung over his shoulder. He remained inside until approximately 7 a.m., when he emerged and surrendered peacefully.
During the incident, a third officer arrived and positioned his vehicle to shield the injured officer until assistance arrived. Both the officer and Wallace were transported to a hospital for their injuries and were released later that day.
Superior Police Chief Paul Winterschiedt announced that all three officers involved have been placed on administrative leave. He explained that even the officer who did not fire, but positioned his car for protection, is on leave. The officers’ names remain undisclosed as they are considered victims in the incident.
The officer who was shot had been with the department for nearly four years, the chief said. The officer who shot the suspect was on the job for about 1 1/2 years, and the third officer had been with the department for nearly two years.
“They all handled themselves like seasoned veteran officers,” Winterschiedt said.
Wallace was charged with attempted murder, domestic abuse involving strangulation and suffocation, criminal damage to property, and discharging a firearm on school grounds.
Kathryn Schnepp said in a social media post that she was involved in the domestic dispute prior to the police shooting, KBJR reported.
“The man involved in the middle school incident and the police shooting was, at the time, my boyfriend,” she wrote. “We had attended his workplace Christmas party together, and on the way home, everything changed in an instant.”
Schnepp said Wallace began driving recklessly and, when she begged him to stop, “chose to crash the vehicle instead.” After the crash, she said, he became violent. She said she got out of the car, but he followed and she “was chased, strangled and beaten.”
She ran to a nearby nursing home for help, and from there police were called, even as Wallace followed her into the facility, and quickly arrived.
“I truly believe that if the police hadn’t been where they were at that moment, I might not be here today,” she said.
Wallace is now being held on a $2 million bond.
