By Shereen Siewert | Wausau Pilot & Review
Marathon County District Attorney Theresa Wetzsteon will not criminally charge two Everest Metro Police officers who shot and killed a man in December, after reviewing Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation reports.
Officers responded at about 11:15 p.m. Dec. 28 to a home on Mount View Avenue in Weston where a man, later identified as 63-year-old Russell W. Mitchell, was armed with a knife. A 911 call alerted police to an altercation between Mitchell and a woman at the home with whom he was romantically involved.
Investigative reports describe a chaotic scene in which officers ordered Mitchell to drop the knife but were forced to break patio glass to enter the home. One officer deployed an electronic control device, but that did not subdue Mitchell, who then stabbed the woman in the back. At that time, two officers short at Mitchell, rolled him over and secured him in handcuffs, according to the incident report. Mitchell died at the scene.
Autopsy results were redacted from the public files, which were released on Tuesday.
The woman, whose name was not released, suffered life-threatening injuries and was transported to a local hospital. She survived.
Special Agent Andrew Simon from the Wisconsin DOJ was assigned as lead investigator on the case, with Special Agent Timothy Gensler as second in command. Sgt. Tanner Uhlig and Officer Brockton Joachim of the EMPD were identified as the two officers who shot at Mitchell. Officer Austin Valenta, also from the EMPD, discharged an electronic control device.
Mitchell’s death marked at least the 29th officer-involved shooting in Wisconsin in 2023, according to Professional Police Association data, a 100 percent increase over the prior year.
