UPDATED Breaking News 2 injured in Wausau area shooting and schools are on lockdown
ROTHSCHILD, Wis. (WSAW) - A suspect in a series of shootings in the Wausau area is holed up in an apartment building in Scholfield in a standoff against a SWAT team.
Two people are reportedly in critical condition with gunshot wounds following the shootings at three separate scenes which began around 1 p.m. Wednesday and occurred within minutes.
The Rothschild Police Chief says it began as a domestic incident. More information is expected at a news conference scheduled at 4:45 p.m.
The first shooting was reported at 12:59 p.m. near Marathon Savings Bank in Rothschild.
Multiple agencies were dispatched to the 1100 block of E. Grand Avenue for the report two people with critical injuries.
Several minutes later, law enforcement agencies were called about shots fired near the Tlusty, Kennedy & Dirks law office in Schofield, and minutes after that they were called about a shooting at an apartment building near the corner of Ross Ave. and Aspen St. This is less than two-and-a-half miles from the first shooting scene.
Our Gray TV sister station WSAW reported a police officer may be injured but police wouldn't confirm this.
Authorities say the suspect is in a second-floor apartment and won't come out.
Officers were seen escorting tenants out of the apartment building.
The SWAT team is on site, and a bomb squad truck arrived at the apartments shortly before 3 p.m.
Police say the situation at the apartment building is still a "very active" scene with a heavy officer presence, and they're urging people to avoid the area -- and telling people living in that area to stay inside for their safety.
Aspirus Wausau Hospital and the D.C. Everest School District went into lockdown mode. Students were eventually released from all but two schools at 3:40 p.m. The school district planned to move students from those two schools to another location under police security, where parents could pick them up.
ROTHSCHILD — SWAT teams have entered an apartment building after a shooting critically injured two people in northern Wisconsin and prompted schools and a hospital to go on lockdown.
Police have marked off an area around Marathon Savings Bank in Rothschild, though a police officer told USA Today Network-Wisconsin the incident was "not a bank robbery."
Dozens of police cars and emergency vehicles were responding after the shooting was reported Wednesday afternoon in Rothschild, about 90 miles west of Green Bay. Wausau police posted a link on social media saying the situation was still active and asked residents to avoid the area.
An officer on the scene confirmed shots were fired. Other information wasn't immediately available.
Schools in the D.C. Everest School District are on lockdown, as is Aspirus Wausau Hospital.