MAUSTON, Wis. — The man accused of killing a retired Wisconsin judge on Friday has died, authorities said.
Douglas K. Uhde, 56, died Tuesday after he was taken off life support, the Wisconsin Department of Justice said in a news release.
Uhde was accused of fatally shooting John Roemer, 68, a former Juneau County judge, in the Township of New Lisbon on Friday, WISN-TV reported.
Police said Uhde was found in the basement of Roemer’s home on Friday with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the television station.
The man accused of killing retired judge John Roemer, 56-year-old Douglas K. Uhde, was previously sentenced to prison by Roemer, court records show. https://t.co/OP3svMjB5L
— News 3 Now / Channel 3000 (@WISCTV_News3) June 4, 2022
The agency said that Uhde was declared brain-dead on Saturday and his body remained on life support until Tuesday morning to allow for organ donation.
At a news conference on Friday, Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said that the shooting appeared “to be based on some sort of court case or court cases,” according to The New York Times.
Uhde had ties to Wisconsin, Michigan and Kentucky, where he was working and living with his mother as of four to six months ago, a friend of Uhde’s told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
>> Former Wisconsin judge fatally shot at home; suspected shooter identified
According to the Journal Sentinel, Kaul said the Juneau County Sheriff’s Office received a call around 6:30 a.m. CDT Friday about an armed person in a New Lisbon home where two shots had been fired. The caller had been inside the home but left and contacted authorities from a nearby residence, Kaul told reporters.
The Juneau County Special Tactics and Response Team attempted to negotiate with the armed man and entered Roemer’s home at about 10:15 a.m. CDT, the Journal Sentinel reported.
The incident appeared to be a targeted act, the Wisconsin Department of Justice said in its news release.
Uhde had an extensive criminal and prison record dating back at least two decades, and was sentenced by Roemer in one case, according to The Associated Press.
According to Wisconsin Department of Corrections records, Udhe was sentenced to six years in state prison and nine years of extended supervision by Roemer in November 2005 on charges of armed burglary with a dangerous weapon WISC-TV reported. The case was originally filed in August of 2001 and began under a different judge before Roemer took over the case in February 2005, according to Wisconsin court records.
Uhde was released from his last term in prison in April 2020, according to the AP.
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