APPLETON (WBAY) — Afirefighter has died after a shooting at the Appleton Transit Center, according to Wisconsin Public Safety.
People who saw the shooting say it happened quickly. They say the shooter got anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen shots off before police took him in. (Police have not confirmed they have a person in custody.)
The Appleton Police Department said at least four people were wounded in the shooting.
Tori Mourning lives on Franklin Street, across from Valley Transit.
“I looked up I heard a POW, and I thought it was the lawnmower firing. I heard it again. I looked up because you could see the bus stop from my bedroom window, looked at the tree, I saw the guy shoot a female and she went down, and another shot was fired and there was another male and he went down, and I saw the shooter flee,” she described.
Mourning says as soon as she knew it was gunfire, she told her kids to duck down for protection.
“I screamed through my house that those are gunfire and everyone get down,” Mourning said, “so I ran, and by the time I got to the top of my house to the bottom my kids all ducked down, and by the time I got out there were sirens and the cops were here, Appleton, I mean the cops responded so fast it was ridiculous.”
Her daughter’s boyfriend, who was at her home, thought the shooter was going after the library. He says it was a scary moment and felt very real.
“My first thought was the library. I thought that he might have been going to the library to cause some sort of public disturbance like what we’ve seen lately with the school shootings and everything. It just kind of struck me that it’s very real and these situations can happen anywhere,” Blake Genskow said.
Mourning said she’s shocked that a shooting of this magnitude would happen, especially with the number of schools nearby. She said a number of kids live on her block.
Witnesses said they hope the victims are doing OK and were upset to hear first responders were involved.
(Photo Courtesy: WBAY)
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