Few details after 39-year-old man shot and killed by deputy in Town of Eagle

EAGLE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A 39-year-old man is dead after he was shot and killed Thursday afternoon, March 14, by a Waukesha County sheriff's deputy in the Town of Eagle. He was identified Friday as Matthew Blankman. 

In a news conference, Sheriff Eric Severson said deputies responded to a home in Eagle after there were reports of a man shooting a gun outside.

Severson said after deputies got to the home, one of them felt his life was in imminent danger and the deputy shot the man. Deputies tried life saving measures, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

New audio from emergency dispatch is shedding some light on how the deadly shooting developed.

A woman called 911 and said her boyfriend was having a psychotic episode and was shooting his gun in his backyard.

Within 15 minutes that man had been shot by a responding deputy. But the sheriff did not share much information about what happened within those 15 minutes.

At the news conference, Severson said, "The initial information is the officer felt that his life was in danger, and he responded as he was trained."

But he did not elaborate on what exactly that danger was, or what the man did to threaten the life of the deputy and prompt the shooting.

The 911 call came in at about 12:25 p.m., when a dispatcher relayed, "We got a 911 caller who said her boyfriend is in a psychotic episode. He is refusing to leave for the ER without his weapon. He is shooting off rounds in the backyard. We also have a neighbor calling in for shots fired."

Deputies responded and found the armed man outside the home. Roughly 15 minutes later shots were fired, and the man was hit.

A deputy radioed, "Confirming all deputies are ok. Suspect is down and injured."

We asked the sheriff if there was a verbal threat, if the man pointed the gun at deputies, or even if he fired at them.

Severson told us, "I don't have any information on that right now."

A woman who lives in the neighborhood said the man who was shot was quiet and kept to himself.

And she said neighbors knew he had a mental health issue.

The sheriff was asked directly if deputies are trained for that kind of situation. Severson said, "They're trained to de-escalate; they're trained to recognize mental illness. They're also trained to recognize threats of deadly force and to respond appropriately."

The Eagleville Elementary Charter school is less than a quarter mile from the shooting. It was placed on a brief lockdown as a precaution.

Text and email alerts reassured parents the issue was in the neighborhood, not the school itself.

Parent Micah Roberts told us, "Still scary, and very nerve-wracking."

But in a sign of the times, Roberts told us, "Our school actually just practiced yesterday, a lockdown drill."

Roberts was grateful his school was prepared, but "That doesn't make it any easier when it happens. We're still very looking forward to picking up our kids."

The Walworth County Sheriff's Office will lead the independent investigation into the shooting, but they face a significant challenge: there is no body camera video and no dash camera video.

Waukesha County does not have them.

Sheriff Severson said it was a financial issue: "I would like to get a lot of resources to do a lot of things. And we don't have body cameras right now."

The Walworth County undersheriff said the next update will come when the medical examiner releases its report on the man involved. At this time, he has not been named.