The Broadsheet: Blue mourning
Headlines from the Barron News-Shield April 12, 2023 edition, plus some extra, newsy recommendations from the editor.
Hello readers,
There is only one story this week.
Police officers Emily Breidenbach and Hunter Scheel were killed in the line of duty on Saturday, April 8, leaving heavy hearts and holes in the communities where their positive influence was strongly felt.
First we have the mainbar story, detailing how a traffic stop suddenly became a shootout. The Barron County Sheriff and Cameron and Chetek police chiefs shared brief comments on the tragedy and how it is impacting their departments.
“We’ve had tragic events here in Barron County—nothing like this.”
—Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald
Secondly, we have a story detailing the criminal and legal history of Glenn Perry, the man who allegedly shot and killed the officers. Perry’s malice for police was apparently something he harbored for years.
“He kept buying more guns and would go on rant about how cops are bad and how he was going to kill them.” (Juvenile interviewed in misdemeanor domestic abuse case)
We also have short profile stories on both Emily Breidenbach and Hunter Scheel.
There is no exact guide for grief. But Sarah Glaze—who lost her husband, Dan, while he was on patrol as a Rusk County sheriff’s deputy in 2016—offers good advice in dealing with loss in this piece written by my colleague Bob Zientara.
“It’s something you never get over. But you can move forward.”
—Sarah Glaze
Memorial funds for the families of Breidenbach and Scheel have been set up at Sterling Bank and the Community Bank of Cameron, respectively.
A community vigil is this Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. at Mosaic Technologies in Cameron.
Funeral services for both officers will be held Saturday, April 15, at Cameron High School. Visitation is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with the services and police honors to follow.
Lastly, here is an editorial from our staff reflecting on the tragedy.
For a place whose entire population is fewer than 50,000 people, Barron County has had more than its share of tragedy and loss in recent years.
Too much tragedy. Too many losses.
Now, we must deal with the deaths of two police officers who worked for communities so small, most major news operations had to locate them by telling their readers where they were in relation to Minneapolis-St. Paul or Milwaukee.
As Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said on Monday, “We’ve had tragic events here in Barron County, (but) nothing like this.
He continued, “We heal as one and we need everyone to take part in that.”
In the near-term, the community will observe a candlelight vigil Wednesday, April 12, at 7 p.m. at Mosaic in Cameron.
But as Sarah Glaze, the widow of fallen officer Dan Glaze since 2016, reminds us—local law enforcement personnel and their families will need support for weeks, months and years to come.
As we pledge to never forget Emily Breidenbach and Hunter Scheel, we should never lose sight of their colleagues who continue to serve, now under the greater weight of grief.
Still, we are left to wonder what happened last Saturday on the outskirts of Cameron, and why?
Breidenbach and Scheel were police officers, yes, but even more than that. They were role models and community advocates in ways that went above and beyond their mission to protect and serve. They were young, too, with potential left unfulfilled.
There are some things we do know about the individual who took the lives of Emily and Hunter before he, himself, died. Things that give some insight into his personal background, which – even though his criminal record was short – seem to indicate anger with people around him, including immediate family, legal figures, and, in particular, law enforcement officers.
Authorities tell us the investigation won’t be wrapped up until about a month from now.
In the meantime, we are left to reflect on these deaths, as well as a double murder and kidnapping just west of Barron in fall 2018 and, two years before that, the shooting death of a Cameron resident and Rusk County sheriff’s deputy, among other sad news stories over the years.
What does all of it say about this corner of the world we live in?
The easiest thing to do would be to fire off the all-too-typical political slogans that get repeated with each new incident. But, swapping charge and countercharge doesn’t get us any closer to the truth.
We may pose questions like – what makes human beings behave as they do? And, how can we make any sense of this? And, what does this say about our deepest beliefs, especially with this crime taking place within mere hours of Easter Sunday?
The words of two historic figures come to mind.
It was Charles Dickens who noted that it’s only once a year that people think of others as “fellow passengers to the grave” instead of creatures entirely unlike themselves, “bound on other journeys.”
And Clarence Darrow, who said that “when we fully understand the brevity of life … it should … bring a better understanding and a deeper sympathy for the wayfarers who must live a common life and die a common death.”—News-Shield Staff
That’s all I’ve got for this week. Thanks for reading. If you need to catch up on local news or are looking for more Editor’s Picks, check out the archives at newsshield.substack.com.
—Ryan Urban