Man who died after trading fire with police in Madison Kwik Trip was wanted for homicide

Laura Schulte, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·2 min read
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MADISON – The man who died after exchanging gunfire with Madison police inside of a Kwik Trip on the city's east side Friday has been identified as a man wanted by police in a homicide.

Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said during a press conference Monday that 39-year-old Justin Kopmeyer was the individual killed during the incident, by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Just minutes before the incident inside the Kwik Trip, Madison Police asked the community for information about Kopmeyer's whereabouts and linked him to a homicide on the city's east side. Kristin L. Schmitt, 41, was found dead in a home near the Olbrich Botanical Gardens on Feb. 22. Barnes said she was strangled to death. Kopmeyer and Schmitt had been dating for less than a year.

A tip led officers to the Kwik Trip where Kopmeyer produced a weapon, Barnes said. There were people inside the store at the time, who were able to be quickly evacuated.

Kopmeyer locked himself in the bathroom of the convenience store after trading fire with two members of the Madison Police Department's SWAT Team, Barnes said. He said at least one of the shots by the officers struck Kopmeyer but it did not incapacitate him. One officer also deployed a Taser,but it was innefective, Barnes said

Both of the officers who discharged their guns are on administrative leave, pending an investigation by the Department of Criminal Investigation, Barnes said. Both officers are male and have been with the department for 13 years and four years. Barnes declined to name the officers.

The incident shut down East Washington Avenue — one of Madison's major thoroughfares — for several hours during Friday's rush hour.

"We recognize that this is a traumatic event for many in our community. We have community members who had to run out of the store with their arms up," he said. "We had people living nearby seeing a large police presence and our SWAT officers surrounding this business. We had drivers concerned about seeing a large police presence and streets blocked on East Washington during a busy rush hour."

Barnes said that while Kopmeyer wasn't "on the department's radar," there was another call on Christmas Day to the home where Schmitt was found last week that resulted in the filing of domestic abuse charges against Kopmeyer. The charges were ultimately dropped after Schmitt didn't cooperate in the case, he said.

"We do encourage victims to go through with the process because it's so very, very important," Barnes said.

More:Where to find help for sexual assault and domestic violence in Wisconsin

Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on Twitter at @SchulteLaura.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Man who died in Madison Kwik Trip was wanted in homicide.