Three people are dead and a fourth is in a hospital with life-threatening injuries after a shooting in a Janesville apartment.
Police Chief Chad Pearson says the initial report was for a family issue before a 911 call for shots fired came in at the Aspen Square Apartments in the 2600 block of Holiday Drive.
Paramedics were allowed in to continue lifesaving efforts, and the person was taken to Mercyhealth Hospital and Trauma Center in Janesville with life-threatening injuries.
Pearson says there was no ongoing threat to the public. Detectives were still at the scene of the shooting Tuesday afternoon and there remained “a lot of delicate information as it pertains to the victims,” Pearson said.
Pearson did not say whether police were looking for a suspect in the shooting, citing the open investigation. He took to the podium after a short address by Janesville City Manager Kevin Lahner.
Lahner told reporters at the press conference the killings were not “politically motivated” like the fatal shootings of lawmakers that happened over the weekend in Minnesota.
Otherwise, police have not characterized the killings, other than to say that police initially were called to what was described as a domestic dispute.
Pearson told reporters the shootings were not related to illegal drugs or drug sales. Police shut down the press conference after taking two or three questions from a set of Madison-based television news reporters.
Police did tell neighbors and said in a public alert shortly before noon on Tuesday that there was no immediate threat remaining in the neighborhood, although police continued to keep blocks of the city around the apartment complex cordoned off for hours as they investigated.
At one point, police had two vehicles in garage stalls at the apartments — a newer Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV, and a Dodge Charger car — towed away as evidence.
A woman who identified herself as Beloit resident Nija Yarbrough says her son, a 21-year-old who lived at apartments at the 2600 block of Holiday Drive, was one of the three people killed Tuesday in the shooting.
Yarbrough drove from Beloit on Tuesday morning to visit her son. She says when she got to the Aspen Square Apartments, Holiday Drive was flooded with police.
Yarbrough told Big Radio a police officer at the scene told her that her son was among those killed in the shooting, which broke out about 11 a.m. Tuesday.
Police as of Tuesday night had not confirmed the identity of any of those killed.
By mid-afternoon Tuesday, children were playing at an adjacent park as police were leaving the scene one-by-one, and investigators continued to work the crime scene at the apartment complex.
The apartments are adjacent to a dozen nearby businesses along North Pontiac Drive — including two hotels, a retail shopping complex and a busy supermarket corridor.
Big Radio reporters Tim Seeman, Andrea Morrow and Neil Johnson contributed to this report.
