‘No one was killed’ thanks to patience, fire hose

Described as heavily armed and extremely dangerous, a 37-year-old Fredonia man who paralyzed his typically quiet neighborhood with fear by firing guns, threatening to kill people and holding authorities at bay for 38 hours was finally flushed out of his house on Fox Glen Road Saturday with a fire hose by authorities who had exhausted just about every other tactical option, Ozaukee County Sheriff Christy Knowles said Monday.

“We actually used water ... essentially an unmanned fire hose,” she said, adding that by then officers had used stun grenades, tear gas, battering rams, drones, messages from his family and wailing sirens to try and persuade the man to surrender.

“We used almost every tactical approach possible to allow the suspect to surrender peacefully,” Knowles said. “We were scraping the bottom. We were thinking, ‘What else can we do to get this guy out of the house?’”

The patience and perseverance of officers — and ultimately a fire hose — averted a tragedy, she said.

“No one was killed,” Knowles said. “The primary goal in a situation like this is preservation of life. Our top priority for the entire duration of this incident was the safety of the community, law enforcement personnel and the individual.”

At 12:30 p.m. Saturday, May 10, the man walked out the front door of his house and complied with the commands of officers to drop to the ground.

“I could hear the officers say, ‘We see you at the bottom of the steps. Please come out. We know you’re scared,’” Kristine Jones, who lives on Partridge Lane kitty-corner from the man and chose to shelter in place throughout the standoff, said. “The officers were very calm.”

The man was taken to an area hospital to be treated for minor injuries and undergo a mental health evaluation. He remained in the hospital earlier this week on a mental health hold.

Ozaukee County District Attorney Benjamin Lindsay said Monday he expects to file charges against the man this week. Knowles said her department is seeking multiple counts of recklessly endangering safety and failure to comply with law enforcement officers.

“However, the investigation is still in its early stages, so there may be other charges to come,” Knowles said.

As of late Monday afternoon, authorities had not yet been able to enter the house because it is structurally unstable. A contractor has been hired to shore it up and an explosive ordinance disposal team was expected to sweep the home Tuesday, she said.

Jones said the man moved into the house at 139 Fox Glen Rd. last summer with a woman, but she apparently left at some point. Knowles said that early in the standoff authorities were able to confirm he was alone in the home.

During a briefing on Monday, Knowles acknowledged that questions have been raised about the length of the standoff and said its duration was the result of a calculated approach intended to protect officers and residents.

“I’m extremely proud of how officers handled this situation,” she said.

Authorities knew the man was holed up on the second floor of the two-story house throughout the standoff, and officers had every door and window in the home covered, she said.

“We had 360-degree coverage on that home,” Knowles said. “The suspect was not leaving.

“As long as he remained in his home, we were confident the community was safe.”

But, Knowles said, she was not confident officers would be safe if they entered the house.

“The suspect said continuously that he would kill or shoot anyone who entered the home, including law enforcement,” she said. “That would have been the unintended consequence if we had decided to rush in.

“I will do everything in my power to make sure I don’t have to tell an officer’s parent, an officer’s wife or their children they died because we chose to rush in to take care of the threat inside when we had that threat controlled from the outside.”

The incident began to unfold at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, May 8, when multiple residents in the area called 911 to report shots being fired from the man’s home.

“The number of 911 calls received during this incident overwhelmed our communications center,” Knowles said.

Deputies responded to the area, but did not hear gunshots. Then at 10:30 p.m., authorities called the man, who admitted playing loud music and firing guns from his home, she said.

“The suspect stated he was going to continue playing music, and if anyone came to his residence, he would shoot them,” Knowles said. “He expressed his dismay for government, and shortly after the phone conversation, deputies heard multiple gunshots coming from the residence.”

Jones heard them too.

“I thought at first that someone was shooting off fireworks,” she said. “Nobody would imagine that someone would be shooting a gun in our neighborhood.

“There was some pretty rapid fire, then we got the notice to shelter in place.”

Authorities initially contacted area residents and told them to shelter in place, preferably in their basements because of the high-velocity rounds being fired, and later offered to escort them from their homes, although some stayed in their houses.

A large police presence that included officers from multiple departments led by the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office was assembled. At one point during the standoff, the Ozaukee County Special Response Team was temporarily relieved by SWAT teams from Washington and Milwaukee counties, as well as members of the Franklin Police Department SWAT team, to allow members of the Ozaukee unit to rest.

Authorities, Knowles said, knew a little bit about who they were dealing with because deputies had prior contact with the man during which they confirmed he had guns in his house. She said she didn’t immediately know why officers were previously called to his home or if those calls resulted in his arrest.

A search of online court records showed the man doesn’t have a criminal record in Wisconsin, although a civil petition seeking a restraining order was filed against him in November 2024 by the father of the man’s former fiancee, who alleged the man kept assault weapons in an upstairs bedroom of the house, according to the petition. A temporary restraining order was granted but the petition was dismissed by stipulation of both parties before a judge ruled on a permanent injunction.

Knowles said authorities used “anxiety manipulation” tactics in an effort to break the man’s will to remain holed up. At one point, electricity was cut off to the neighborhood and loud sirens sounded at night to keep him awake.

“The suspect became agitated whenever we changed a tactic, but he would quickly acclimate himself to his surroundings and calm down,” she said. “He was continuously up and down.”

Throughout the standoff, authorities maintained a dialog with the man using a public address system, Knowles said.

“It worked,” she said. “He commented back. A lot of times it wasn’t very nice, but in a situation like this we understand that.”

A message from the man’s family was also played over the PA system.

“His family and his attorney were of great assistance in helping us try to get him out peacefully,” Knowles said.

As the standoff wore on, officers began breeching the house with battering rams, armored vehicles and other devices — a move that proved key to forcing the man’s surrender, Knowles said.

“Personally, the damage to the house was not concerning to me,” she said. “It was done to gain a vantage point on the suspect.”

With large holes in the house, officers could see the man on the second floor as well as the only staircase leading to that floor.

“With our drones, we were able to see some of the weapons in the house, and there were a lot,” Knowles said. “There was a lot of firepower in that home.”

Growing frustrated by the man’s resolve to remain in the house, authorities got creative.

“My team came up with, “Let’s use water,’” Knowles said. “We’ve seen this in our training.”

With the help of the Port Washington and Fredonia fire departments, a ground monitor — the device Knowles described as an unmanned fire hose — was brought in and officers were quickly trained how to use it. The first attempt to use it to flush the man out was unsuccessful, but then more holes were knocked in the house.

“Once we opened up the house and were able to see where he was, he got direct pressure (from the hose) and that ultimately led him to come out,” Knowles said.

“A lot of this was meant to play on his psyche, and eventually he broke.”

Patience, Knowles said, paid off.

“All of the law enforcement on scene showed great restraint, patience, professionalism and perseverance,” she said. “I am extremely happy with the outcome.”

So is Jones, who praised the handling of the incident.

“I’m just so glad it ended peacefully,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine his mother going through Mother’s Day without her son. You love them no matter what they do.

“I know there’s a lot of armchair quarterbacks out there who said, ‘Why don’t they just go in there and shoot him?’ How inhumane.

“I don’t think there was a better way to handle this. It came to a good end.”