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Wisconsin police fatally shot student after he pointed pellet rifle at them, state DOJ says
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MOUNT HOREB, Wis. — Police in Wisconsin fatally shot a student who had pointed a pellet rifle in their direction outside a middle school, according to the state’s Department of Justice.
On Saturday, the Wisconsin DOJ released an update to its ongoing investigation into the fatal shooting outside Mount Horeb Middle School.
The DOJ said someone called 911 shortly before 11:15 a.m. Wednesday after observing a person moving toward the middle school with a backpack and “what appeared to be a long gun.” The state’s attorney general later confirmed that the subject was a male student and a minor, but did not say which school he attended.
Officers from the Mount Horeb Police Department responded to the scene where they found a person matching the reported description east of the school’s main entrance. The officers ordered the student to drop the weapon, but he did not comply. According to the DOJ, that’s when the student pointed a weapon at the officers, who then shot and killed him.
Todd Richmond / AP
A Ruger .177 caliber pellet rifle was recovered on the scene.
Officials said the student never gained entry to the school.
“No law enforcement officers or witnesses were physically injured during the incident,” the DOJ said.
The officers involved in the shooting were wearing body cameras. They are on administrative leave.
Wisconsin DOJ’s Division of Criminal Investigation is leading the multi-agency investigation.
“DCI is continuing to review evidence and determine the facts of this incident and will turn over investigative reports to the Dane County District Attorney when the investigation concludes,” the DOJ said.
Mount Horeb is located about 25 miles west of Madison.
NOTE: Video is from May 1, 2024.
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U.S. troops leaving Niger bases this weekend and in August after coup, officials say
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The U.S. will remove all its forces and equipment from a small base in Niger this weekend and fewer than 500 remaining troops will leave a critical drone base in the West African country in August, ahead of a Sept. 15 deadline set in an agreement with the new ruling junta, the American commander there said Friday.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Kenneth Ekman said in an interview that a number of small teams of 10-20 U.S. troops, including special operations forces, have moved to other countries in West Africa. But the bulk of the forces will go, at least initially, to Europe.
Tech. Sgt. Christopher Dyer / AP
Niger’s ouster of American troops following a coup last year has broad ramifications for the U.S. because it is forcing troops to abandon the critical drone base that was used for counterterrorism missions in the Sahel.
Ekman and other U.S. military leaders have said other West African nations want to work with the U.S. and may be open to an expanded American presence. He did not detail the locations, but other U.S. officials have pointed to the Ivory Coast and Ghana as examples.
Ekman, who serves as the director for strategy at U.S. Africa Command, is leading the U.S. military withdrawal from the small base at the airport in Niger’s capital of Niamey and from the larger counterterrorism base in the city of Agadez. He said there will be a ceremony Sunday marking the completed pullout from the airport base, then those final 100 troops and the last C-17 transport aircraft will depart.
Speaking to reporters from The Associated Press and Reuters from the U.S. embassy in Niamey, Ekman said that while portable buildings and vehicles that are no longer useful will be left behind, a lot of larger equipment will be pulled out. For example, he said 18 4,000-pound (1,800-kilograms) generators worth more than $1 million each will be taken out of Agadez.
Unlike the withdrawal from Afghanistan, he said the U.S. is not destroying equipment or facilities as it leaves.
“Our goal in the execution is, leave things in as good a state as possible,” he said. “If we went out and left it a wreck or we went out spitefully, or if we destroyed things as we went, we’d be foreclosing options” for future security relations.
AFP via Getty
Niger’s ruling junta ordered U.S. forces out of the country in the wake of last July’s ouster of the country’s democratically elected president by mutinous soldiers. French forces had also been asked to leave as the junta turned to the Russian mercenary group Wagner for security assistance.
Washington officially designated the military takeover as a coup in October, triggering U.S. laws restricting the military support and aid.