NEW LISBON, Wis. – A man was found shot to death in the home of former county Judge John Roemer, but whether it was Roemer was not clear immediately. A second man was found wounded in the basement., apparently in a suicide attempt, Sheriff Brent Oleson deferred on questions about what happened, but other sources, including neighbors, pieced this sequence together:
> 6:30 a.m.: A police dispatcher received a call, believed to have been from Judge Roemer’s son, that an armed man was in the house and that two shots had been fired. The caller had been in the house but fled down the block to make the call.
> 7 a.m.: Deputies surrounded the house, at West 6128 Woodland Hills Road, and attempted to negotiate with whoever was inside. There was no response. About 30 officers from various police agencies soon were on scene.
> 10:30 a.m.: The Juneau County SWAT team entered the house. Inside was a body that neighbors speculated was Judge Roemer. In the basement was a wounded man, who was rushed to a hospital in critical condition. There was a firearm with the man.
While Sheriff Oleson declined to name the men in the house, he e confirmed that the fatality was 68 years old and the wounded man 56.
Leafy neighborhood. Site of New Lisbon shooting.
Roemer profile
John Pier Roemer, 68, was elected to the Juneau County bench 2004, defeating former judge Dennis Shuh with 62% of the vote. Roemer was re-elected in 2010 and 2016. Earlier he was an assistant district attorney for 12 years. Roemer also was an assistant state public defender in Baraboo, Wisconsin. He was retired from the lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve. He was widowed in 2018.
New Lisbon profile
New Lisbon, population is 2,600, is in Juneau County. The county seat is Mauston, eight miles southeast on combined Interstate 90-94 Juneau County has 26,000 people. A medium security state prison at New Lisbon houses 900 inmates.