APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – Five Appleton Officers will not be charged in the shooting death of a man who threatened harm with a shotgun earlier this month.
Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis says the officers were justified in the shooting death of 50-year-old David Robinson.
“They believed that there was a threat to themselves, eachother and surrounding neighbors.”
Officers were called to the 100 block of S. Matthias Street for a disturbance on May 7. Five officers were on scene.
Through the investigation, a neighbor and Robinson’s wife revealed that David Robinson was intoxicated and expressed signs that he wanted to end his life.
“He recalled seeing a syringe in the front of his chest, and a bottle of alcohol next to him.”
According to the report, Robinson’s wife contacted 911 once she noticed that he obtained a firearm.
“Mrs. Robinson indicated that she had hid the firearms about a year ago, as he had talked about ending his life in the past,” Tempelis said.
Five officers Nathan Hoffman, Brandon Schnese, Ryan Schroeder, Frank Wychgram and Tom Zieman arrived on scene and confronted Robinson outside of this house. The investigation showed that Robinson had the shotgun in his hand.
According to Tempelis, officers tried multiple times to get Robinson to put the shotgun down, and tried multiple times to talk with him.
“Officer Schnese told him that he wanted to work it out, but he needed to drop his weapon.”
Body camera video showed that Robinson verbally expressed that he was loading the gun and that he charged it.
Tempelis says once Robinson pointed the shotgun in the direction of the officers, they had every reason to act quickly.
“These actions were put into motion by David Robinson. The officers that responded to that call did so to protect our community.”
All five officers subsequently fired 12 shots at Robinson.
“All five officers discharged their weapon for about three to four seconds to stop the threat of Mr. Robinson.”
The Milwaukee medical examiner said Robinson was hit 10 times.
Tempelis confirmed Robinson’s shotgun was not loaded.
Appleton Police Chief Todd Thomas said the officers body camera did not show exactly what officers saw, but it did answer some questions.
“The video showed the speed that these things happen. A split second decision had to be made,” he said. “These officers truly lived up to our core values, and this community is lucky to have them serving as police officers.”
The Green Bay Police Department led the investigation into the shooting.
