Dane County Sheriff: Officers Who Shot Mentally Ill Man Tried Non-Lethal Force First

Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney says the officers involved in the fatal shooting of a mentally ill man in the town of Primrose on Thursday used three forms of non-lethal force before finally shooting him.

Mahoney says officers first tried to use a bean bag gun, then pepper spray, and finally a taser before Deputy Jim Kelley finally fired one shot down into the man’s upper shoulder into his chest.

Mahoney says the man was wearing a bullet proof vest and was armed with a knife that he used to stab two of the deputies before he was shot. Mahoney says the man suffered from schizophrenia, had been in an out of institutions, and had had numerous encounters with sheriff’s deputies over the past several years.

The two deputies he stabbed are recovering from their wounds. The man’s name will be released by the medical examiner’s office as soon as an autopsy is complete.

Meanwhile, officers from the Madison and Sun Prairie police departments are leading the required investigation into why the deputy used lethal force in this situation.