Police haven’t named the man they’d considered a suspect in a domestic violence incident. But they say the man had sparked a standoff early Tuesday after he shot a gun at police after they showed up to the domestic incident at the house at 12 N. Washington St., which is just west of the Five Points intersection.
Police blockaded streets near the home for hours overnight and through late Tuesday morning as SWAT officers tried to negotiate with the suspect.
A Big Radio reporter observed SWAT officers move in on the home around noon Tuesday after police knocked out windows and appeared to fire tear gas into the house. Shortly after that, the SWAT teams on site disbanded, an ambulance appeared, and officers used yellow tape to rope off the house and the yard around it.
Police say they found the suspect dead inside the home. Officers reported they fired no shots in the standoff. Authorities have not indicated a cause of death for the person found in the home.
Police say the Rock County Medical Examiner will release further details in the case.
Shortly before noon, police lined up on home’s front lawn and appeared to fire more tear gas canisters into the home, while more officers lined up under a window on the south side of the home, with rifles ready, as they used a camera on a pole to observe inside the house.
Shortly after that, officers moved around to another side of the home. SWAT officers a few minutes later disbanded operations at the house, and Janesville Fire Department officials and an ambulance arrived on scene.
The house is registered as being owned by a Rexhep Menxhiqi and Shukerije Menxhiqi since 2003, according to city property tax records.
The standoff drew about 50 onlookers who gathered at a gas station parking lot a block south of the police blockade around the standoff.
As the standoff continued to roll out through Tuesday morning, some onlookers used their phones to live stream the SWAT teams’ movements, while others listened to police radio chatter and formed theories on the shooting.
One man who identified himself as “Mike” said he’d been filming on the scene for hours, with hopes to sell the footage to some news media outlets.
Some others on scene theorized on the SWAT team’s strategies, and they traded rumors about the history of people who they say used to live at 12 N. Washington St.
WCLO reporter/anchor Neil Johnson gathered and relayed details and photographs from the scene during this police standoff, and gathered updates from police in assembling this news report. 1230 AM WCLO Radio and wclo.com will provide you more details as we gather them.
