MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Madison police said Saturday that the man who fatally stabbed two people and injured a third before he was shot and killed by police had made threats to his neighbors in the past, but the motive for the violence was still being investigated.
Police said the victims included a woman in her 50s and her daughter, who was in her 30s. The older woman’s 16-year-old son was also stabbed multiple times but survived. A 4-year-old boy who was unrelated to the victims was uninjured.
Police said the older woman lived at the apartment with her teenage son. The adult daughter was visiting, and had brought along the child, whom she was babysitting.
Authorities say the suspect, a neighbor, had forced his way into the apartment. The teenager was stabbed multiple times but was able to run for help, and said a neighbor was stabbing his family.
Police arrived to find a fluid scene and the male suspect wielding a knife. He was shot by at least one officer and taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Police say the man, in his 30s, had mental health issues but the motive for the attack was unclear.
Police said the mother was found dead in the home, and her daughter died from her injuries at a hospital.
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MILWAUKEE (AP) - Wisconsin Republicans at their annual convention Saturday defeated a tea party-backed resolution demanding that legislators pass bills affirming the state’s right to secede and nullifying federal laws.
The GOP’s conservative wing in southeastern Wisconsin’s 6th Congressional District proposed the measure in March. It called on state lawmakers to uphold the state’s right to secede under “extreme circumstances” based on the U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment, which says powers the Constitution doesn’t give the federal government belong to the states.
The measure also called for legislation that would nullify President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, the Common Core academic standards, indefinite detention, any presidential order that circumvents Congress and drone use in Wisconsin.
Rock County delegate Don Hilbig of Beloit tried to convince his fellow convention-goers to adopt the resolution. It’s still unclear whether states have a legal right to secede, he said, so the states should reserve that right for themselves.
“The only way secession was considered was on the battlefield,” he told the convention, referring to the Civil War. “Of course, secession lost on that. But in the court system, secession is still an open question. So it should be retained as a sovereign right.”
Republican officials conscious of a public backlash tried to downplay the resolution. Gov. Scott Walker has said he doesn’t support the resolution. And on Friday, 50 Assembly Republicans sent a letter to convention delegates urging them to reject the resolution, calling it a distraction.
“Unfortunately, a small minority of members wish to prove a meaningless point by voting on a resolution regarding secession,” the letter said. “We need to win elections and we will not win elections on a platform that includes secession.”
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OCONTO, Wis. (AP) - A shooting range in Oconto County has been closed, at least temporarily, after stray bullets were found in nearby yards.
WBAY-TV reported (https://bit.ly/1i1tG9Khttps://bit.ly/1i1tG9K ) that the county has received several reports of rapid gunfire and bullets landing in yards near Machickanee Forest shooting range in the town of Morgan. On Friday, officials found fresh bullet wounds on trees above the berms - something that shouldn’t happen if people follow the range’s rules.
The county decided to close the range so it can investigate.
The unsupervised shooting range has been open since 2003, and the houses in the area have been around much longer than that. This is the first time the range has been closed because of stray bullet concerns, but there have been an increasing number of reports about the issue, as well as reports of reckless behavior, such as people using propane tanks as targets.
Most residents say they don’t want to see the range permanently closed, they just want more supervision.
The County Forestry, Parks and Recreation Committee will meet in coming days to discuss how to re-open the range while ensuring that safety guidelines are followed.
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MILWAUKEE (AP) - Scott Walker isn’t saying whether he’d serve a full second term as governor but delegates at the state GOP’s annual convention Saturday didn’t care, giving their hero a wild standing ovation as he took the stage.
Walker is trying to win a second four-year term and will likely face Democrat Mary Burke, a former Trek Bicycle Corp. executive and state commerce secretary, in the November election. But the governor also is pondering a 2016 presidential bid after his law stripping public employees’ union rights and his victory in an ensuing recall attempt transformed him into a national conservative star. Time magazine last month named him one of the 100 most influential people of 2014.
The presidential race would fall in the middle of Walker’s second term. He won’t say whether he’d finish the stint in Wisconsin.
If he left before he finished his term in Madison, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch would inherit the office. The former TV news anchor survived a recall attempt alongside Walker but her office carries no real responsibilities and she’s largely untested as a policymaker. She also was criticized in 2010 for saying that extending benefits to same-sex couples could lead to people marrying dogs and furniture.
Marinette County GOP Chairwoman Shirley Kaufman said she’d like to hear the governor commit to a full second term.
“I do believe you have to make a commitment to serve out your whole term,” Kaufman said in a telephone interview ahead of the convention. “I’d like to see our man stay in Wisconsin and be our governor. I would like to hear him commit. But I know many people would not like to hear that. He probably would make a very good president. But I’m worried about our state.”
There was little buzz about a possible Walker presidential bid at the convention. Delegates sprang to their feet and whooped as the governor took the stage to strains of Brooks & Dunn’s “Only in America.”
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