(Fond du Lac) Fond du Lac County Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt is praising one if his deputies for his valiant efforts during the Fox Valley Mall shooting in Grand Chute. Waldschmidt says Blaine Evans, who was off-duty, was at the mall shopping at Scheels All Sports with family on January 31st. He says Evans saw people running and quickly learned that shots had been fired in the adjacent food court.
A store manager escorted shoppers to a secure room, while Evans identified himself as an off-duty deputy and was taken to the video surveillance room in attempts to locate the shooter. Surveillance video showed a victim of the shooting laying on the outdoor sidewalk near Scheels All Sports main entrance. Evans exited the store, immediately responded to the victim’s location and began administering first aid.
Waldschmidt says the individual had suffered a gunshot wound to his hip which Evans began applying pressure on with a sterile feminine pad he got from a passerby. During treatment of the victim, Evans obtained more information about the shooter and was able to relay those details to arriving law enforcement. An ambulance transported the victim to a hospital while Evans rode along, providing security until they were out of the danger zone. An on-duty officer replaced Evans and he was able to rejoin his family later that evening.
Waldschmidt says he is honored to work alongside these deputies, who not only risk their personal safety protecting citizens while on-duty, but who also jump into action to protect innocent lives from danger in other communities, even while off-duty. The sheriff says when he spoked to Evans he told him (quote) “we train for this” and that “any one of us in the same situation would have done the same…I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.” Evans – a patrol deputy – has been with the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office since 2018.
