NEW LISBON, Wis. — A gunman suspected of fatally shooting a retired county judge at a Wisconsin home was sentenced to prison by the judge nearly two decades ago, online court records show.
On Friday at about 6:30 a.m., the Juneau County Sheriff’s Office said it responded to a report of two shots fired inside a home in the Township of New Lisbon.
The caller who made the report had exited the home upon the gunman's entry and called from another residence. Officials said there was an armed person in the house.
The armed man has been identified as 56-year-old Douglas K. Uhde by the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
Upon arrival, the sheriff’s office said it attempted to negotiate with Uhde while he was still inside the home but was unsuccessful. The Juneau County special tactics and response team entered the home at 10:17 a.m. after those failed negotiation attempts.
Donna Voss, a neighbor, told The Associated Press that local police on Friday morning instructed her to stay in her home. She said she heard law enforcement on a loudspeaker telling the man to surrender and leave the home.
The sheriff’s office said inside the home, responding officers found a deceased 68-year-old man, who was the homeowner. The DOJ later identified him as retired Judge John Roemer.
Roemer was found zip-tied to a chair in his home and had been fatally shot, an anonymous official said. The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
In the basement, officials said they found Uhde with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Uhde was transported to a medical facility for treatment, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Attorney General Josh Kaul said that Uhde was in critical condition as of Friday afternoon.
Uhde had not been charged in the case as of Saturday evening.
Uhde has an extensive criminal and prison record dating back at least two decades, including a case when he was sentenced by Roemer to six years in prison on weapons charges. He was released from his last prison stint in April 2020.
Kaul did not provide the exact location of the shooting. Kaul did not release the relationship between the caller and Roemer.
The DOJ said it believes this was a “targeted act.” Kaul said the alleged gunman had selected targets who were “part of the judicial system.”
But investigators believe the gunman also may have planned to target other government officials and found a list in his vehicle that contained the names of several other prominent elected leaders, the anonymous official said. The other targets on the list, which mentioned Roemer, included Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the official said.
Spectrum News reached out to Evers’ office, which declined to comment, saying it does not disclose information “on specific security threats or the governor’s security detail.”
Zach Pohl, Whitmer's deputy chief of staff, said her office was notified that her name appeared “on the Wisconsin gunman’s list."
“Governor Whitmer has demonstrated repeatedly that she is tough, and she will not be bullied or intimidated from doing her job and working across the aisle to get things done for the people of Michigan,” Pohl said.
Whitmer became the object of protests and criticism after she blamed former President Donald Trump for stoking anger over COVID-19 restrictions and refusing to condemn right-wing extremists.
A trial held earlier this year in which four men accused in an alleged kidnapping plot of the Michigan Democrat resulted in the acquittal of two of the men. The jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict for the other two.
Kaul said the incident appeared to be tied to a court case. Kaul said there are not specific threats to any officials, nor did he provide a number of officials potentially at risk during a news conference Friday.
Kaul would not say if any public officials have been assigned special protection, but did say individuals who were identified as potential targets have been contacted and advised to increase security.
“The information that’s been gathered indicated that it was a targeted act and that the targeting was based on some sort of court case or court cases,” Kaul said.
Roemer was a “very loving, very encouraging man with a wonderful sense of humor who will be dearly missed” by the community, said Chip Wilke, pastor at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mauston, where Roemer was president of the congregation and evangelism chairman. “He was in my office several mornings a week.”
Wilke said after he was notified of Roemer’s death Friday, the pastor’s thought was “I’m glad we have Jesus and we know where he’s at.”
"The state's judicial family is shocked and saddened by this tragedy," Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler said in a statement. "Judge Roemer dedicated much of his career to public service in the law. Before taking the bench in 2004, he had served as an assistant district attorney and as an assistant state public defender. He was known by colleagues for his sharp legal mind and his willingness to share his time and knowledge with others. His work made a tremendous difference in the lives of many people in Juneau County and elsewhere in the state. Our deepest sympathy goes to Judge Roemer's family at this time."
For Voss, the incident came as a shock in a usually quiet neighborhood where houses sit alongside farmland and wooded lots.
“It’s unbelievable and really freaky,” she said.
The DOJ said there was no immediate danger to the public. An investigation involving the FBI and the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation is ongoing, Kaul said during a news conference Friday.