Eagle officer-involved shooting still has unanswered questions after Blankman identified

EAGLE - Four days following the incident, the Walworth County Sheriff's Office has not released any specifics about its ongoing investigation into an officer-involved shooting that resulted in the death of Matthew Blankman in Eagle.

The 39-year-old town of Eagle man was shot by a Waukesha County Sheriff's Office deputy on March 14, following an earlier incident in which he reportedly was seen firing rounds of ammunition outside his residence. The task fell to the Walworth County to independently investigate the shooting under a state law for officer-involved shootings.

To date, authorities, who publicly identified Blankman on Friday, have offered no explanation, based on what they know, as to why he would have fired a weapon outdoors and so close to the Eagleville Elementary Charter School about a quarter of a mile from his home. Social media also provided few insights.

According to his Facebook profile, which was still active as of Monday, Blankman listed that he had previously lived in Racine, but had attended both Mukwonago High School (1999 to 2002) and Hillcrest High School (from which he graduated in 2003).

After graduating from ITT Technical Institute with a construction management bachelor's degree in 2013, he worked at Vulcan Global Manufacturing Solutions in Milwaukee for seven years until 2020 as an estimating manager and then worked a brief two-month stint at Grunau Company in Oak Creek as a project manager. He listed no additional employment since May 2020.

Blankman was also engaged to be married.

He was shot by one of three Waukesha County deputies who arrived first at the scene after authorities received a 911 call at about 12:25 p.m. March 14. In a news conference several hours later, Sheriff Eric Severson said the deputy felt his life was in "imminent danger" when he opened fire on Blankman. It was still unclear what action Blankman might have taken to warrant that fear. None of the law enforcement officials on the scene, including Eagle police officers, were hurt.

Severson, in response to media questions, acknowledged that his department does not have body cameras or dash cameras. He was unsure whether other departments had either types of cameras available at the scene.

The three deputies, ranging from five to 25 years of experience, have remained on administrative leave while investigators work. Walworth County officials did not specify Monday when any updates would be coming in their investigation.

"As was stated previously, we will send out additional information as needed, or most likely at the conclusion of our investigation," Walworth County Sheriff Dave Gerber said in an email. "We continue to investigate this case, and there is no estimated timeline for completion. We want to ensure a thorough and complete investigation."

Contact reporter Jim Riccioli atjames.riccioli@jrn.com.