Details of some fatal Wisconsin police shootings remain secret

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In two police shootings in the past year reviewed by Wisconsin Watch, state and local agencies used potential threats to involved officers as justification to indefinitely withhold the names of officers involved.

The identities of officers who shoot suspects are routinely released elsewhere, though they are not tracked by the state Department of Justice, which collects use-of-force reports.

Last year Wisconsin Watch reported on a troubling exception to default transparency when Oshkosh police invoked Marsy’s Law to shield officer identities in a pair of non-fatal shootings. The constitutional amendment is supposed to protect crime victims, yet a police department claimed an officer had a right to privacy because he was a victim of the suspect he shot. 

In Rice Lake last year, police shot and killed 50-year-old Zachary Veitch in a public housing complex shortly after he was alleged to have stabbed a neighbor. Officers entered the man’s apartment and forced open his bedroom door, then shot him when he emerged with a knife.

A retired police officer who trains departments in crisis intervention reviewed the incident and noted responding officers failed to use de-escalation techniques that could have prevented the death.

But authorities have withheld the names of the police officer and sheriff’s deputy who fired their weapons. Investigators cited threats made by the dead man’s son against officers recorded in jailhouse phone calls following news of the fatal shooting.

Prosecutors declined to file charges against the dead man’s son. But they have agreed to indefinitely withhold the names of the law enforcement officials who killed Veitch, citing the threats.

In another deadly case in Neenah, rifle-wielding police and sheriff’s deputies stormed a gas station’s convenience store and shot a man dead after he allegedly sold drugs to a police informant. 

Officers assigned to the Lake Winnebago Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group killed 37-year-old Nathan Briese in the presence of a store clerk after Briese reached for his pistol, video of the incident shows. 

Knowing Briese was likely armed, officers — whose names were redacted in reports — disregarded their initial plan to carry out an open air arrest to minimize danger to passersby.

Investigators called in from the nearby Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Office withheld the name of the arrest team officer — identified only as “Officer 3,” who ordered the apprehension of Briese despite the presence of bystanders at the convenience store.

Using open source methods, Wisconsin Watch determined the identity of both law enforcement officers who shot Briese. 

The Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department then confirmed that Deputy Justin Ross shot Briese.

“While we stand behind the decision to withhold his name after this incident due to previously cited reasons, we no longer feel it necessary to withhold this,” Outagamie Sheriff’s Lt. Nathan Borman told Wisconsin Watch.

But the Appleton police department more than a year later refuses to confirm the name of its officer who shot Briese, citing unspecified threats to the officer’s safety.

Wisconsin Watch requested the officer’s personnel file, which included a Police Star Medal for participation in the task force’s attempt to arrest Briese.

But the department said it had no use-of-force report on file for the Aug. 2, 2023, shooting, which occurred outside its jurisdiction. Wisconsin Watch is not naming the officer.

Neither agency released details on the nature of threats it used to justify withholding names.

“To my knowledge there was not a formal investigation into the potential threats against officers in this case,” Borman said. “It is not uncommon for officers to receive information about threats which are deemed credible.”

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