Praise for police after Antigo prom shooting

ANTIGO - "Proud" was a word heard frequently around this rural northern Wisconsin city, as community members praised police officers for acting quickly in what they say could have been a massacre at Saturday's high school prom.

Officers responded immediately when 18-year-old Jakob Wagner shot and injured two students at Antigo High School at around 11 p.m., the city Police Department said. Police already at the school heard gunshots, and one of them shot and stopped Wagner, who was pronounced dead at 1:06 a.m. Sunday.

Phillip Basnett, who lives kitty-corner from the school, said he saw shots being fired from the area of the school as he walked from his van to the house after work Saturday night.

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"Shots were going crazy. It was pretty intense," he said. "I ducked and ran to my house. I thought maybe it was just kids being kids."

Within seconds, he said, squad cars and police backups swarmed the area.

"My wife said, 'Did you hear the fireworks?'" Basnett said. "I said 'No, those were shots!' We went back outside. In that amount of time, police had flooded the area and had the situation under control."

He said the authorities could not have handled the situation better.

"I'm so very grateful to the Antigo Police Department," Basnett said. "They're trained well, and they did what any parent would want.

"It's unfortunate what happened, it's very tragic, but I couldn't feel safer with their response. They did exactly what you would want them to do."

Basnett moved to Antigo from California two years ago, and, like many others, never expected a shooting in this community of 8,000.

"One of the reasons I was so relaxed here is because I got away from it, the bullets firing and the sirens and the chaos of the big cities," he said. "We're a small, loving community. Everybody knows everybody. This is just tragic."

Antigo Police Officer Bruce Brown was among those who responded quickly to the call for backup Saturday. He was at home when he received the page, he said. Sunday afternoon he was back at the school site, in uniform, chatting with other officers monitoring the area.

"It makes me feel proud that he did what we've been trained to do," Brown said in reference to the still-unidentified officer who shot Wagner. "That's what our jobs are about, to serve the public and do what's right and do what we can. We train because we don't want it to happen, but we train like it's going to happen, and unfortunately it did.

"He saved, probably, a lot of lives."

A student who was at the school when shots broke out also credited the police.

"It was a huge job, and some of them got there in their pajamas and sweatshirts to make sure we were OK," said Nikita Deep, 16, a junior at the school.

It wasn't just the Antigo team that sprung to action, authorities said.

The Langlade and Lincoln county sheriff's departments and Medford, Tomahawk and Rhinelander police departments were among those who assisted, Antigo Police Chief Eric Roller said.

"We have a small staff, and with a lot of help we were able to secure the scene and get the other students safely out," he said. "We have to train for it, and it paid off. We were able to stop the threat, and that's a very good thing."

The department has 15 members plus support staff and crossing guards, according to its website.

Antigo has not had a shooting in decades, the chief said. He did not share other details about the event or possible motive.

"We know today with today's violence, it's happening everywhere and no one is immune to it," the chief said.

For at least one Antigo mother, the police action brought both relief and sadness.

Heidi Aros, working at Little Caesars pizza on the town's main drag Sunday, is grateful her son, Dane, who was at the prom, left without injuries.

"He texted me and told me apparently there was a shooting outside," she said. "I thought he was joking, so I called him. He told me they all went into the gym and crouched down and did a lockdown. Having lived in the community my whole life, I know a lot of people. I was just hoping whoever it was was OK."

Aros said she commends the police for their actions.

"I think they did their job just as they were supposed to, it's unfortunate that the shooter has passed. I also knew him," she said. Wagner attended kindergarten with Aros' daughter, and Aros had worked with Wagner's mother.

"I know he's always been a quiet kid," Aros said. "It's one of those things that you hope that no one you know would ever do that. The hows and whys go through everyone's minds. I never knew him as a bad kid."

The mother said she's fine allowing kids to head back to class on Monday.

"The police department was and is on top of everything," Aros said. "I feel safe letting my kids go back to school. The police did a good job, what they were supposed to do."

Contact Patti Zarling: pzarling@pressgazettemedia.com; or on Twitter @PGPattiZarling.