FOX VALLEY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A total of three Fox Valley officers are now on administrative leave after using a firearm in a string of shootings this week.
Wednesday’s shooting at a gas station in Neenah comes two days after a shooting at Appleton’s Erb Park, and one day after a shooting in Grand Chute.
“We believe it was centralized to the park area here. We had some concerns about some weapons being involved and perimeter was established,” said Lt. Meghan Cash with the Appleton Police Department.
Both Grand Chute and Neenah’s shootings were officer-involved.
“Officers from the Grand Chute Police Department were attempting to serve an arrest warrant at a multi-family complex,” said Officer Dylan Davis with Grand Chute Police Department.
In 2022, Neenah police responded to more than 25,500 calls. They used force on 51 of those calls, down from 62 in 2021.
There were no officer involved shootings in Neenah last year.
Grand Chute police responded to more than 26,400 calls in 2022. Officers used force in 28 incidents, compared to 22 incidents in 2021.
None of those included the use of deadly force.
“Our officers responded to this location to attempt to serve that arrest warrant and then through the course of that execution it resulted in officers discharging their firearms,” said Davis.
34-year-old Pierce Don Lee Folkerts, from Green Bay, was shot in the lower leg by Lt. Russ Blahnik of the Grand Chute Police Department after fleeing and pulling out a weapon on Tuesday.
The weapon Folkerts had was later determined to be a replica handgun.
Blahnik has been placed on administrative leave per department policy until the investigation is complete.
Folkerts is expected to survive.
“No officers were injured as a result of this incident and the Outagamie County Sheriff’s office will be investigating the officer-involved critical incident,” said Davis.
The Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Office is leading the Neenah investigation. They say the investigation is on-going.
