A 57-year-old man shot and killed himself during an eviction from a downtown Madison apartment Wednesday morning.
Police deputies arrived at the 2 W. Gorham St. apartment at 7:30 a.m., a spokesperson for the Dane County Sheriff’s Office told the Wisconsin State Journal, to serve an eviction notice.
The renter refused to open the door before shooting himself, though it is unclear whether the deputies witnessed his death.
The tenant was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. The responding officers were not injured.
The man, who was not identified by name, refused to either move out or pay rent after his lease expired Feb. 28, according to the State Journal.
When he was served a summons for an eviction trial, he agreed instead to an eviction stipulation that required him to leave by April 16. He did not leave the apartment. The landlord filed an affidavit of default the next day, to which the officers were responding.
The two deputies have been placed on administrative leave while Madison and Fitchburg police investigate.
The Sheriff’s Office said they are treating the shooting as a critical incident.
