A Waukesha man who was suicidal last month said he wanted police to shoot and kill him.
According to a criminal complaint, 51-year-old Dean L. Stamm called it "suicide by cop."
Stamm, who was shot by three police officers after pointing an assault rifle at them last month while in the street, has been charged with 12 criminal counts, including six felonies.
Stamm made his first court appearance Feb. 5, nearly two weeks after an incident at his home at Douglass Avenue in Waukesha. He remains in jail on a $50,000 cash bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Feb. 12.
The charges include five counts of intentionally pointing a firearm at law enforcement. He faces up to 30 years in prison and $50,000 in fines if convicted of all of those counts.
The sixth felony is for resisting an officer and causing substantial bodily harm/soft tissue injury. Stamm is also charged with misdemeanor counts for resisting/obstructing an officer and five counts of intentionally directing a laser pointer at law enforcement.
Stamm was suicidal
According to the criminal complaint, officers were dispatched to 222 Douglass Ave. just before 9 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 24, for a report of a suicidal person. The caller, Stamm's girlfriend, said Stamm was very depressed and had been drinking that day, the complaint said.
The woman told police Stamm has a history of suicide attempts and had an assault rifle under his futon in the home, where he lives with his 89-year-old mother.
Given the nature of the call, multiple officers responded to the home. Officers parked their cars approximately five houses to the west of Stamm's residence in an effort to create as much distance from the potential rifle threat as possible.
But immediately, the complaint said Stamm pointed a green light at officers, a laser utilized for accuracy in long guns. An officer said in the complaint he believed Stamm was pointing the rifle at him, along with the four other officers that were with him.
The complaint says Stamm repeatedly ignored commands from officers to drop the rifle and surrender to police and continued to approach the six fully marked squad cars. At one point, the complaint said Stamm raised the rifle to a 45-degree angle and in the direction of two officers, causing two officers to retreat behind several squad cars. Stamm later told police his rifle was not loaded nor did it have ammunition and he was looking to be shot.
One officer was injured when he avoided potentially being shot at by Stamm. The officer was diagnosed with a contusion, a neck sprain and left knee sprain, the complaint said.
Man was struck
Three officers eventually fired at Stamm after he ignored commands and pointed the rifle in their direction. However, Stamm then ran into an alley directly off Douglass Avenue. He was eventually arrested after falling to the ground.
Stamm, whose blood alcohol content was 0.22, had three gunshot wounds that weren't life-threatening. All three wounds were caused by the same bullet. He later told an officer, according to the complaint, he couldn't believe "Waukesha snipers could not hit him in the head," because that is what he wanted.
Twelve rounds had been fired by the three officers, the complaint said.
The gunfire resulted in a victim at a nearby house. The complaint says within a few minutes of gunfire, a male exited a residence nearby and yelled "We have a gunshot victim in here."
According to the complaint, a woman, who had been in her residence with her husband, suffered a very minor wound to her leg after a bullet appeared to have traveled through her home and into the kitchen area. The injuries were caused by debris from the bullet, the complaint said.
His plan for police
While en route to the hospital, Stamm told an officer "I got drunk and tried to kill myself. Just let me die. I don't want help. I just wanted to die."
Stamm said in the complaint he had just taken back his firearms (he also reportedly owned a .45-caliber handgun) from his friend who had been holding onto them for a few months. He said he wanted the guns back because he was going to sell them.
After officers didn't initially shoot him when he wasn't following commands, he decided to turn and walk. He said the "snipers did good" and shot him in the arm, the complaint said.
Another incident
He told an officer in the complaint a similar situation happened approximately six years ago, when he armed himself with a firearm but ultimately was disarmed and taken into custody. He said he couldn't kill himself due to his Catholic beliefs, the complaint said.
Stamm had told people in recent months that he was going to commit suicide by making the police shoot him, the complaint said.
Stamm said in the complaint his actions weren't fair to police and did not want to hurt anyone, but he wanted to die.