A Wisconsin domestic violence suspect shot a police officer then crashed his van into a school, wandering the halls armed with a rifle for four hours before finally surrendering to police outside.
The incident began early Sunday morning when Superior police were alerted to the domestic call, spotted the suspect’s vehicle, and attempted a traffic stop, KQDS reports.
The suspect, later identified as 28-year-old Dylan Wallace, got out of his van and opened fire on the police officer with a semi-automatic rifle, striking her multiple times before she had gotten out of her vehicle. The officer returned fired and was soon joined by a second officer, who shot Wallace as he was fleeing the scene, back in his van.
Wallace then rammed into the front doors of Superior Middle School, where he again got out of his vehicle. He was seen on surveillance video wandering the halls with his rifle strapped over his chest. He remained inside for about four hours, finally exiting at about 7 a.m. He was arrested without incident.
Meanwhile, a third officer arrived on scene and parked his vehicle between the school and the wounded officer until help arrived. The officer — and Wallace, after his arrest — were taken to a hospital for treatment of their wounds. Both were released later on Sunday.
Superior Police Chief Paul Winterschiedt said all three officers involved in the shooting were placed on administrative leave, even the one. who did not fire and only placed his squad car between the wounded officer and the suspect. Their names have not been released, he said, because they’re considered victims.
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.
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[Featured image: Dylan Wallace/Douglas County Sheriff’s Office]
