Authorities have identified the victim of a homicide that led to a fatal police shooting Aug. 29 in Peshtigo.
Shortly before 9:15 a.m. Aug. 29, law enforcement officers attempted to make a traffic stop on a vehicle connected to a suspicious death investigation in Dane County, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice. The vehicle fled, leading to a high-speed pursuit southbound on U.S. 41 that ended with the vehicle crashing near the intersection of U.S. 41 and Schacht Road.
The driver, who has not yet been identified, exited the vehicle and approached officers, prompting one officer to deploy a Taser, the justice department said. After it was ineffective, two Marinette police officers fired their guns, wounding the suspect, who later died from his injuries.
The DOJ Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the police-involved death. In a Sept. 2 news release, the Dane County Sheriff’s Office shared more information on the homicide investigation that led to the attempted traffic stop.
According to the sheriff’s office, a 70-year-old man left Madison around 10 a.m. Aug. 28 to go to his cabin in Mazomanie. When the man didn’t return to Madison for a family dinner that evening, his family reported him missing.
The man has been identified by the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office as Thomas Muckler, 70, of Mazomanie. Investigators believe when he arrived to the cabin, Muckler encountered a 23-year-old man who had broken into the cabin and been staying there for an undetermined amount of time.
When a sheriff’s deputy arrived at the cabin around 8 p.m. Aug. 28, there was no vehicle on the property and no answer at the door, the sheriff’s office said. Family members of Muckler went to check the cabin later that night and found Muckler dead inside, prompting a homicide investigation.
The sheriff’s office said it knew that Muckler had arrived at the cabin in a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe, which was no longer on the property. Authorities sent out a statewide alert in an attempt to find the car and its driver.
An officer with the Marinette Police Department located the vehicle Aug. 29, leading to the high-speed pursuit and police-involved death.
Vivian Barrett is the public safety reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach her at vmbarrett@greenbay.gannett.com or (920) 431-8314.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Marinette County police-involved shooting linked to Mazomanie homicide