ETTRICK, Wis. – A break-through in what’s believed to be a drive-by shooting homicide was confirmed by Trempealeau County Sheriff Brett Semingson. A suspect, whom the sheriff called a “person of interest,” has been arrested and held for the time being on unrelated charges. The shooting was 10 days ago. Semingson, who has a history of withholding information from the public, offered no details on the arrest or how it relates to the homicide. It is known that Semingson reached out early in the investigation to authorities in next-door LaCrosse and Jackson counties. It is possible that the suspect is jailed in one of those counties, but Semingson wouldn’t confirm. Also he doesn’t conform with the usual policing practice of listing a roster online of prisoners in his own county jail in Whitehall. So far, 10 days after the death, Semingson hasn’t released the name of the shooting victim either. People around Ettrick, however, say he was local and in his 30s. He was found dead in his car, shot in the head, on the U.S. Highway 53 south of Ettrick. The shooting, on May15, has been pegged between 7 and 9 p.m.
Public safety
Among the slivers of information released about the murder by Sheriff Brett Semingson has been that public safety was not in peril. In effect he was views the case as a one-off incident.