Global Courant 2023-05-13 05:55:29
Hundreds of law enforcement officers from several states joined other mourners on Friday to pay their last respects to a Wisconsin deputy who was fatally shot by a suspected drunk driver during a traffic stop.
The funeral of St. Croix County Deputy Sheriff Kaitlin “Kaitie” R. Leising took place in Hudson High School’s gymnasium, while a montage of photos from her life was displayed on a large screen above her head. Leising’s family, including her wife, Courtney, and their 3-month-old son, Syler, stood to the side of the coffin and hugged visitors.
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The mourners included a large delegation from the Pennington County, South Dakota Sheriff’s Office, where Leising worked before moving to St. Croix County last year.
Hundreds of law enforcement officers from across the country gathered Friday for the funeral procession of Kaitlin Leising, deputy sheriff in Wisconsin’s St. Croix County. (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP)
After the funeral, a police parade was scheduled to take her coffin from Hudson High School to a church in Baldwin.
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Leising, 29, was killed May 6 in Glenwood, about 60 miles east of Minneapolis. Leising and the driver she pulled over, Jeremiah Johnson, were discussing sobriety tests in the field when he pulled out a gun and shot her, the Wisconsin Department of Justice said. She fired her weapon three times, but none of the bullets hit Johnson before he fled to a nearby wooded area. Leising was pronounced dead at a hospital.
An hour after the shooting, an officer heard a shot in the woods. Johnson, 34, committed suicide, investigators said.
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Leising’s death was the third fatal shooting of a law enforcement officer on duty in western Wisconsin in a month, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
