Mayo: Shot Lake City police officer dies

Published 5:22 pm Saturday, December 31, 2011

ROCHESTER — A Lake City police officer died Friday evening, 11 days after he was shot while answering a domestic disturbance call in the southeastern Minnesota town, according to Mayo Clinic officials.

Officer Shawn Schneider, a nine-year veteran of the Lake City Police Department, died in St. Marys Hospital, Mayo said in a statement. No other details were released.

The statement said Schneider’s family thanked everyone “for their overwhelming support and well wishes during this difficult time.”

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Many in the community kept their porch lights on as a sign of support for the wounded officer, and hundreds attended prayer vigils for Schneider in Rochester and Lake City.

Schneider, 32, who was married and the father of three children, had been in critical condition since he was shot Dec. 19. Authorities said Alan Sylte Jr., 25, of Hager City, Wis., shot Schneider in the head and then took his own life.

A 17-year-old girl who escaped from the house told police she had broken up with Sylte the previous week after he became violent.

Court documents say Sylte sent the girl 282 messages over the weekend before fighting with her at her family’s house in Lake City the day of the shooting.

A Wisconsin National Guard spokeswoman said Sylte was an Iraq war veteran who was in the process of being discharged for failing to report to duty.

Sylte joined the Guard in February 2009 and served three months in Iraq this summer, Guard spokeswoman Jackie Guthrie said.

The shooting in a residential neighborhood led to an hours-long standoff that ended when authorities entered the house and found Sylte’s body. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

Nearby schools were locked down during the standoff, and students were not released to their parents until the all-clear was given that evening.

The Lake City Police Department was closed Friday evening.