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Wisconsin Man Dies From Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound Days After Allegedly Killing Ex-Judge
Doug Uhde was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he allegedly shot and killed 68-year-old retired judge John Roemer. He's since died of his injuries.
A Wisconsin man has died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound four days after he was accused of gunning down a retired Wisconsin judge, officials said.
Doug Uhde, 56, who allegedly fatally shot former judge John Roemer earlier this week, was pronounced dead on Wednesday by the Juneau County Medical Examiner, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice. He had been declared legally brain-dead shortly before 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 4, but stayed on life support until an organ donation could be completed.
Law enforcement responded to Roemer’s home in New Lisbon around 6:30 a.m. on June 3, after reports of an armed intruder — later allegedly identified as Uhde — who had fired two shots inside the residence. An unidentified witness, who was inside the property at the time shots rang out, escaped and ran to a nearby house to notify emergency dispatchers of the incident.
When authorities arrived on the scene, they were unable to make contact with anyone in the home, according to officials. A Juneau County Special Tactics and Response Team stormed the home at approximately 10:17 a.m. and found the 68-year-old judge dead. Responding law enforcement also discovered Uhde, who had been critically wounded by an apparent self-inflicted gunshot, in the basement of the house. Investigators seized the firearm suspected to have been used in the shooting from the residence.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice previously described Roemer’s shooting death as a “targeted act.” An exact motive hasn’t been released, but the two men had encountered each other before.
In 2015, Roemer had sentenced Uhde to six years behind bars following the latter's conviction on armed burglary and several weapons charges, court filings show, NBC News reported.
During a press conference on Monday, Attorney General Josh Kaul also suggested to reporters that Uhde “appears to have had other targets.” While being transported to hospital, officials recovered an alleged hit list in Uhde’s possession, which reportedly included high-ranking state and federal politicians, per NBC News.
Kaul declined to go into further details regarding the names of other potential targets on the suspected hit list.
“I mean, the idea that, as I said before, a judge from a rural county is targeted and murdered, it’s just abhorrent to our judiciary and to leadership in our state and our county,” Gov. Tony Evers said this week, according to NBC affiliate WTMJ. “It’s a horrible situation. I grieve for him. I grieve for his family. And God, we can do better than this in Wisconsin."
The investigation into the apparent murder-suicide is ongoing. Once concluded, the Wisconsin Department of Justice said it plans to turn over case findings to the Juneau County District Attorney’s Office. A spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Justice didn’t respond to Oxygen.com’s request for comment regarding the open investigation on Wednesday morning.
Had Uhde survived and been formally charged with intentional homicide in Roemer’s slaying, he would have faced a maximum sentence of life in prison, if convicted, according to state laws.
Anyone with additional information pertaining to Uhde is urged to contact the Wisconsin Department of Justice at 608-266-1221.
