No charges against 3 officers in Wisconsin casino shooting

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By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Three Green Bay police officers who killed a man after he opened fire a tribal casino restaurant this spring will not face any criminal charges.

Investigators have said 62-year-old Bruce Pofahl walked into a restaurant in the Oneida Nation Casino on May 1 and shot Ian Simpson and Jacob Bartel at a wait station with a 9 mm handgun. Pofahl then went outside and shot another restaurant employee, Daniel Mulligan. Green Bay Police Sgt. Brian Jordan and offficers MaKayla Wolfe and Ben Snyder found Pofahl in the casino parking lot seconds later and shot him.

Simpson and Bartel died. Mulligan survived.

The state Department of Justice, which investigated the incident released a letter Thursday from Brown County District Attorney David Lasee saying he won’t charge the officers.

Lasee said the officers encountered Pofahl only moments after he had shot someone and he pointed his gun at them, putting them and bystanders in danger. Given the circumstances, the officers’ decision to fire was reasonable, he said. The letter was dated Tuesday.

The restaurant is part of an Oneida Nation hotel, casino and conference center on the tribe’s reservation just west of the city of Green Bay. The complex employs 150 to 200 people.

Court records show Pofahl had been fired from his job at the restaurant and his supervisor had taken out a restraining order against him in March. She alleged he had harassed her and sent her threatening texts and emails for several weeks. A court commissioner granted the restraining order but didn’t bar Pofahl from possessing a firearm.

It’s unclear if Pofahl was looking for her on the night he opened fire at the restaurant. Authorities said he was looking for someone specific but that person wasn’t there. They didn’t name that person.