OCONTO COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Community members in Oconto County came together tonight to support an officer shot in the line of duty last Friday.
Carrie Marquardt knew something was wrong when she saw several first responders drive past her home that day.
“I saw about 14 officers come past my house and ambulances and I knew something was going on,” Marquardt said.
While responding to a call, an Oconto Falls officer was shot once and taken to a Green Bay hospital, where she was later discharged.
The officer is now resting at home.
The community gathered on Sunday to show its support for the wounded officer and for all other first responders.
The community prayed and took a moment of silence.
Law enforcement officers also took that time to share another important message.
“Wanted to let the community know if you’re not reading the papers or not reading the criminal complaints coming out, there’s a serious substance abuse problem in the area. A lot of them probably don’t see what we deal with on a daily basis,” Oconto Falls chief of police Brad Olsen said.
Olsen says with more instances of substance abuse could come more instances of mental health related issues from it.
“This very well possibly could be the same thing. Locally, like I said I’ve had more officers requiring hospital treatment in the last four months than I have in the previous 6, 7 years and those are all related to mental health issues, drug abuse issues,” Olsen said.
Marquardt says she’s happy to see a small community like this one come together.
“We just wanted everybody to come over here and show the support to the officers and the officer that is wounded and make sure that she comes home safe and sound,” Marquardt said.
Officers from other jurisdictions also showed up to the vigil.
