A shelter-in-place warning was issued for about two hours the morning of Nov. 12, to more people than intended, because of a stabbing that happened near Cherryland Airport in the Town of Nasewaupee.
According to a news release from the Door County Sheriff’s Office, emergency responders were dispatched at 7:53 a.m. to the area around 6698 County C after getting a report of a person bleeding heavily from the neck.
When deputies and emergency medical personnel arrived, they found the injured person and administered aid. They determined the victim had sustained a stab wound to the neck in a domestic violence incident.
Because the suspect’s location was unknown at the time, the county’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) was activated around the area of the incident, covering an area roughly bounded by County C, County PD, Grondin Road and the north side of the airport. The alert instructed residents in the immediate vicinity to shelter in place until the situation was deemed safe.
The suspect later was located and the sheriff’s office posted to its Facebook page around 10 a.m. that no ongoing threat remained to the public.
A separate news release from Door County Emergency Management, which operates the IPWAS, also addressed some confusion that arose from the shelter-in-place warning, which was received by some residents outside the area for which the warning was meant.
That news release said IPAWS is designed for mass notification during life-safety emergencies and sends critical emergency messages to all cellphones within a designated area automatically, with no registration required. That’s different from the county’s Door County Ready, an emergency notification program for weather alerts and general public information, for which registration is required.
But when messages are sent to small, defined areas, such as happened with this warning, the alerts may end up going to residents beyond the intended boundaries. The release said IPAWS messages are transmitted through local cell towers, so coverage might overlap into outside areas.
Emergency personnel from the sheriff’s office, Nasewaupee Emergency Medical Responders, Door County Emergency Services, Sturgeon Bay Police Department, Sturgeon Bay Fire Department and Wisconsin State Patrol responded to the scene. The incident remains under investigation.
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@gannett.com.
MORE: Here’s your guide to 2025’s holiday celebrations in Door County
MORE: White Gull Inn in Fish Creek announces 2025-26 folk concert and dinner series
FOR MORE DOOR COUNTY NEWS: Check out our website
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Stabbing in domestic incident causes a shelter-in-place warning near Door County airport
Reporting by Christopher Clough, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
