Wisconsin officers cleared in the fatal shooting of 14-year-old Damian Haglund, who had an air rifle
By: The police officers who shot and killed an armed student as he was trying to get into a Wisconsin middle school won’t face criminal charges, prosecutors announced Monday.
Damian Haglund, 14, was carrying an air rifle that looked like a real firearm, refused multiple commands to drop the weapon and pointed it at an officer at least twice, threatening the officers’ lives, Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said in a statement.
According to the statement, Village of Mount Horeb police received a call May 1 about a person walking past a home carrying a gun near the village’s middle school.
An officer saw students running from the middle school as he approached and saw Haglund pulling on one of the school’s doors. He was carrying what appeared to be a rifle.
The officer, identified as school resource officer Steve Rosemeyer in the Department of Justice's investigative report, thought Haglund would get inside the school and hurt students. The Rosemeyer began yelling at Haglund to drop the weapon and move away from the school, but Haglund kept pulling on the door.
Haglund then started walking toward and pointing the rifle at Rosemeyer despite continued warnings to put it down. Rosemeyer stated in the report that he "did not immediately shoot because he thought the subject was a kid."
Moments later, the report states that the student "pointed the rifle at SRO Rosemeyer's face and SRO Rosemeyer thought he would never see his children again because he was going to die."
More police arrived and shots were fired. Haglund was apparently wounded, fell to the ground, got up and pointed the rifle at Rosemeyer again. More shots were fired and Haglund fell again.
He pointed the rifle at Rosemeyer again from the ground. The officer then fired his rifle at Haglund, according to the investigative report. Officers tried to save his life, but Haglund died at the scene.
The investigative report said authorities found a note written on Haglund's bedroom wall addressing officers: "To the officers that had to shoot me: I'm sorry. It's not your fault. Don't forget that."