Police ID Teen Accused Of Antigo Prom Shooting

Authorities have identified a man who they say shot and wounded two students outside of their northern Wisconsin prom as 18-year-old Jakob E. Wagner.

Police say Wagner opened fire late Saturday with a rifle, shooting a male student in the leg and grazing a female student in the thigh as they left the high school dance in Antigo, a community about 150 miles north of Milwaukee.

Police Chief Eric Roller said two officers were patrolling the parking lot at the time, one of whom shot Wagner. Langlade County Coroner Larry Shadick told The Associated Press that he died early Sunday morning in the intensive care unit at a Wausau hospital.

In a news release, police say the female student was treated at a hospital and released and that the male student was undergoing surgery for injuries that weren’t life-threatening.

Roller said the quick actions of the officer who shot Wagner helped avert a larger tragedy: “He saved lives by stopping the threat. It didn’t end up inside a building that was full of prom-goers that would have been a much tougher situation to de-escalate.”

Roller and Antigo High School principal Tom Zamzow credit six adult chaperones for keeping students inside while authorities from several agencies swarmed the area after the shooting.

Roller wouldn’t go into detail on what kind of gun Wagner used, other than to say it was a single rifle. He also wouldn’t discuss if Wagner was bullied while he was a student there. Wagner graduated in 2015.

The State Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation is looking into the case since it is an officer involved shooting, standard procedure, according to Roller.

“They’re looking at everything thoroughly to make sure we did everything we could’ve done and everybody acted properly,” he said.

When the investigation is done, a report will be sent to the Langlade County District Attorney. An autopsy and toxicology report on Wagner have been done and results are pending.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with original reporting.