Suspect in West Bend death is former MPD officer

I'm going to close my door here. Good evening, everybody. Mary Stoker Smith here in our Fox 6 Now, a Fox local room. Wanted to bring you an update on some breaking news. This really tragic story that happened yesterday in West Bend where four people and a dog were found dead inside of a home yesterday morning, just before noon. Two of the deceased were children, another child taken to the hospital and we are told the latest condition is stable for that child. Police said the suspect was among the deceased that was found in that home and we are just learning now some new information and for that I'm going to bring in our Durante Matthews in the newsroom. Durante, you and I have been working our sources and we've been finding out some new information. Tell me what you have learned. Yeah, Mary. So two different police sources are now confirming to us that the suspect in this case was a former Milwaukee police officer. We're told this person retired from MPD more than a decade ago and that that retirement was not duty based. Now, right now we are not naming the suspect because the West Bend police. Department has not released the identification of the suspect, nor anybody in that home. The only thing West Bend Police has said so far about the suspect is that they believe the suspect was among the four people found dead in the home and that they did recover a firearm inside that home that they believe was related to this incident. So that's sort of the update that we have just found. We maybe have confirmed this. Probably within the last hour, hour and a half. So, but just making sure that we got it confirmed from multiple sources. Yes, from multiple credible sources that this, again, the deceased, the suspect in that West Bend death investigation we've been reporting is a former Milwaukee police detective. So we do know some details about that officer who we are, our sources have confirmed, but we're not going to share those details. But this is a significant person Part of the puzzle that we've been trying to figure out exactly How these incidences are melded together, we still don't know the catalyst. We don't know what caused this incident to happen. But just a tragic scene there playing out in West Bend. And police are being very tight-lipped about this because they want to make sure that this investigation is thorough. Obviously, we are not releasing the identity of this man. But have you learned any other intricate details that you're piecing together for our newscast coming up in just about an hour at 9 or 10, Durante? Yeah, Mary. And like you said, we do not know why this happened. We have no idea what the motive could possibly be. But during the press conference yesterday that Westman Police gave out at the end of it, they did mention that there are. Our resources for people who may be experiencing domestic violence, that is the closest that we have gotten to any particular motive that may be involved in this case. But as far as what I'll have for you tonight, in addition to that new information that the suspect was a former Milwaukee police officer, we spoke with people who knew the family outside of the home there. It's a home near Washington and Wisconsin and West Bend. There is somewhat of a growing memorial outside. People have been stopping by, dropping flowers, balloons, even stuffed animals, and we spoke to people who knew the family, who had spent time inside that home, and were very close with the children involved in this case. Again, we know that there were two adults and then two, a young, a boy and a girl. Who were among the deceased and one currently in the hospital and we spoke with people who say they were really close with the girl who was found deceased in that home, who spent a lot of time with her. They were classmates. They were in a lot of extracurricular activities together and say she was the sweetest person you could ever know. And they miss her terribly. Yeah, Geronte, one of the things I found probably perhaps the most troubling and perhaps a bit surprising is what you were saying, people there are saying, saying they're in shock. Sometimes you've covered enough crime scenes to know that some people will say, I was wondering, something seemed off, something didn't quite seem right. It didn't appear that there were any red flags that this tragedy was going to happen. Sometimes there are those. It appeared as though everybody was completely caught off guard, caught by surprise Absolutely. Not only the people who we spoke with on camera, but also off camera, you know, we spent a lot of time door knocking, talking to neighbors, just getting the sense of what that community is feeling right now. And one neighbor tells me that she had no idea that there were any problems in that home that could have led to something like this. She tells me that she's seen the family multiple times, she's seen the suspect in this particular case, and nothing would have led her to believe that something like this would happen. Yeah, exactly. A lot of shock in that area. We were told by police that there is no... Threat to the public. There would not be any residual. They continue to investigate there. And I'm sure just a terrible situation for families here to have to explain to their kids what may have happened. So, Durante, we appreciate you digging into this. We will look for updates coming up in just a bit here in just about an hour on Fox 6 News at 9 and 10. But we wanted to get this word to the public. So, Durante, thank you for all of your hard work there. So, again, police sources have confirmed that the suspect in the West Bend death investigation that we have been reporting since yesterday. On November 7th, is indeed a former MPD officer. We know a little bit of information about that officer. We are not going to release that at this time, but we at least can confirm based on sources that this officer is among those, the deceased. We will try to also get an update on the child who is in the hospital in critical condition at this point, but those are the only updates that we have been given. Please stay tuned on Fox 6 News at 9 and 10. Durante is going to have more updates and we'll continue to comb through our sources and other information. We'll see you tonight at 9.