Shooting In Beaver Dam

Updated:

Dodge County Sheriff’s officials have identified the man shot and killed by a Sheriff’s deputy at a Beaver Dam apartment complex. Fifty-nine year-old James Quealy of Beaver Dam had been threatening suicide-by-cop last Friday night and turned his gun on the deputy and fired. The deputy, a 9 year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, returned fire killing Quealy. The deputy was not injured. The deputy has been placed on administrative leave while the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation investigates the shooting. Sheriff Dale Schmidt says he feels the investigation will find the deputy used appropriate force.

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At 6:46pm on August 5, 2016, Dodge County Central Communications received a request to check the welfare of a subject at 215 Woodland Drive in the City of Beaver Dam.  Information received was that a male subject was making statements threatening suicide.  We later learned that he had access to a firearm.

Beaver Dam Police Officers established a perimeter to keep the public safe. Contact was made with the subject and he indicated he wished to commit suicide by cop. The subject began waving around his firearm during the incident.  Suicide by cop is a method of committing suicide by creating a deadly force situation in which a law enforcement officer is forced to deadly force stop a potentially deadly threat to the lives of both law enforcement and the community.  

Due to the nature of the incident and the potentially dangerous situation, Beaver Dam Police requested the assistance of the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office at 7:40pm.  Unified Command was set up between Sheriff Dale Schmidt and Beaver Dam Police Chief John Kreuziger and a cooperative approach was taken in dealing with this incident.  Negotiations were initiated early in the incident and continued with the hope of resolving the situation peacefully.

Unfortunately at 8:46pm the suspect turned his weapon on a deputy sheriff and fired.  This forced the deputy to return fire in an effort to stop the threat presented to him and the community.  The suspect was shot and killed in the gunfire exchange.  The deputy sheriff was uninjured.

The deputy is a 9 year veteran of the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office.  No additional information will be released on the deputy pending the investigation.  The deputy and the deputy’s family are being attended to so that we can provide them with resources to meet their needs while maintaining the integrity of the investigation.  The deputy has been placed on non-disciplinary administrative leave pending the investigation.

The Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) responded at the request of the Sheriff to conduct the investigation into the incident.  This is done so that we can obtain a thorough and accurate investigation of the facts by an outside agency as required by state law.  DCI worked through the night to complete the investigation and will continue in coming weeks.

The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office and the Beaver Dam Police Department would like to thank the Beaver Dam Fire Department and Paramedics for their assistance at the scene along with the Dodge County Emergency Response Team.  We would also like to thank the professionals at the Wisconsin Department of Criminal Investigations, Wisconsin State Patrol, and the Wisconsin State Crime Lab for their knowledge and expertise in conducting a fair, impartial, and thorough investigation of the facts.   Sheriff Dale Schmidt indicates that he is confident that when the full investigation is complete, the facts will show the deputy used appropriate force to protect the community.