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.
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 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.
