Officer shoots hatchet-wielding woman in ‘Lake Hallie Walmart’

A police officer shot a woman armed with a hatchet Friday evening inside the Walmart store in Lake Hallie.

Melissa M. Abbott, 25, originally from Black River Falls, died at 11:58 p.m. at an area hospital, according to a Lake Hallie Police Department news release sent on Saturday morning.

The woman was shot twice, once in the leg and once in the stomach, after she grabbed a hatchet from the sporting goods department and started cutting things such as pillowcases, a fertilizer bag and a box, Chippewa County Sheriff Jim Kowalczyk said.

The woman was in the store with a couple of employees from the Northern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled in Chippewa Falls, where she is a resident. She became upset when, after about an hour in the store, the Northern Wisconsin Center employees tried to get her to leave. She then moved to the lawn and garden area, Kowalczyk said.

Authorities were called by the employees of the Northern Wisconsin Center who kept customers away from the woman.

A Lake Hallie police officer responded and ordered the woman to drop the hatchet several times. She lunged at the officer, who then fired his weapon, Kowalczyk said. The officer has been placed on administrative leave, which is protocol in officer-involved shootings.

Lake Hallie police Chief Cal Smokowicz said in a news release that the officer fired two shots. The woman received life-threatening injuries, he said.

Abbott was taken by ambulance to Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire.

The Northern Wisconsin Center is a state-operated intermediate facility for persons with intellectual disabilities. Police were told Abbott had cognitive disabilities, Smokowicz said.

The shooting was reported at about 5:15 p.m., prompting an evacuation of the store at 2786 Commercial Blvd. By 6 p.m., customers were allowed back into the store. Doors were locked to the lawn and garden area. Lake Hallie police and Chippewa County sheriff’s squad cars were at the scene.

Walmart employees referred all inquiries to its corporate office. A company spokesman said he had no details and did not have any information if there had been any other officer-involved shootings ever at Walmart stores.

Tim Werth of Bloomer said he was just arriving at the store when shoppers were being evacuated. He used to work at Walmart and talked to one of the managers who told him that shots had been fired. He was told a woman had a knife and that he could come in the store, but no one was being allowed near the lawn and garden area.

Werth said when he arrived he saw 15 to 20 officers. An ambulance was seen leaving the area with it lights and siren on.

“In my opinion, it is bound to happen anywhere,” Werth said. “Something is going to happen. This time it happened to be at here.”

The Chippewa County sheriff’s office will investigate the shooting, and the district attorney will determine if it was justified. Officers were expected to be on scene until about 8:30 p.m. Friday investigating the incident, Kowalczyk said. The woman’s name is not expected to be released until late today.

Surveillance video from the store will be used as part of the investigation, as well as witnesses who were at the store, Kowalczyk said.

This is the second officer-involved shooting in the Chippewa Valley this week.

On Sunday, a St. Paul man was shot by an Eau Claire County sheriff’s deputy shortly before 7 a.m. outside Queens Laundromat at 2611 W. Moholt Drive in Eau Claire. He died a short time later at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire. David S. Mack, 69, was wanted on two federal warrants, both of which were issued last month for violating the terms of his probation and parole.

The shooting occurred after a deputy initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle. As the deputy attempted to take Mack into custody he became confrontational and armed himself with what appeared to be a stun gun. Mack continued after the deputy, who attempted to distance himself from Mack.

Agencies/Canadajournal