ANTIGO, WI (WTAQ) – More details about the tragic shooting outside Antigo High School’s prom Saturday night are coming to light.
However, Antigo Police Chief Eric Roller conceded there’s still a long way to go in this investigation.
“We obviously have a lot of questions still,” said Roller during a news conference Monday. “We’re still going to be looking for those answers as this investigation continues.”
Roller thanked everyone from surrounding law enforcement agencies, school staff members to students both inside the prom and outside who help tend to the shooting victims. In particular, Roller pointed out one couple who was leaving the prom just as a male and female student were wounded by shots fired.
“They immediately attended to those two victims, one tied a necktie around the leg as a tourniquet,” Roller recounts. “Then also called 911 and requested help from inside the building.”
Both victims will survive, and the family one of those wounded issued a statement Monday discussing the current status of their loved one.
“Eventually it was just the noise of the gunshots and some noise of the victims and they were able to respond right to that area,” Roller said of Saturday night’s quick response.
The gunman, identified as 18-year-old Jakob Wagner, rode a bicycle to the school armed with a rifle. Wagner was shot by an officer and died later from his injuries.
Roller reiterated that the actions of the unnamed police officer saved lives.
“By stopping the threat,” says Roller. “It didn’t end up inside a building that was full of prom-goers that would be a lot tougher situation to deescalate.”
Authorities confirmed an autopsy has been performed on Wagner, but those results were not released. Roller also said investigators searched Wagner’s residence, but declined to specify what had been found.
“It doesn’t appear that there was a target,” Roller explains, adding that a motive has yet to be established.
A former classmate, 19-year-old Emily Fisher, tells USA TODAY-Wisconsin that Wagner was “bullied a lot”. They graduated together in 2015. She said the bullying was severe while Wagner was in middle school and continued to a lesser degree in high school. Fisher said the bullying included name calling and taunting, and may have included violence.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is now leading the investigation because the incident was an officer-involved shooting.
CLASSES RESUME
It was a somber day Monday as students returned to class just 2 days following the shooting.
“Our entire school district community experience a tragedy the likes of which this district thankfully had never before seen,” Antigo High School Principal Tom Zamzow said during the police press conference.
Zamzow explained that he was advised by law enforcement to have classes, and put into action a detailed plan on helping students and staff cope with this incident.
“We have counselors available in our building,” says Zamzow. “Definitely is a different mood in the building, but students are making the best of it.”
Zamzow says that a number of counselors will be there through the rest of this week and that attendance Monday felt like a normal day.
When asked about his recollections of Wagner, Zamzow respectfully declined to answer the question.
“I don’t know if it’s appropriate for me to comment on that,” Zamzow said. “I do remember him as a student. He was a recent graduate.”
