July 7, 2026
By Tim Hundt
VIROQUA, Wis. – The fallout from the simulated machine gun fire at the Viroqua Fourth of July celebration has prompted a swift and unified response from city leadership. Following a wave of public concern Viroqua Mayor Krista Browne and Viroqua Skylighters representatives Dane Piper and Dean Hoff held a one hour meeting to address the incident and subsequently issued a joint public apology.
The controversy centers on a Jeep equipped with a simulated 50 caliber automatic rifle that drove onto the Vernon County Fairgrounds track before the fireworks display. The weapon produced realistic muzzle flashes and loud rapid gunfire sounds that caused panic among many spectators.
During their joint statement Browne explained that the group gathered to discuss the event because the community deserves transparency. She read from a prepared statement acknowledging that the unexpected gunfire created confusion and fear and left many participants with valid concerns for their safety.
“We know better because of our roles as public servants veterans and students of hunter safety that this act was not safe and in the moment poor decisions were made,” said Browne. “We apologize.”
Browne clarified that while the Jeep itself was approved to be onsite for the event the driving and the simulated firing were neither planned nor approved. Hoff and Piper added that there was absolutely no intent to cause fear among the crowd. However they acknowledged that spectators who were seated farther away near the Viroqua Community Arena were likely unaware that the gunfire and muzzle flashes were fake. They recognized how the sudden noise caused genuine concern and agreed the situation could have been handled much better.
The joint apology set the stage for a discussion the very next day at the July 7 Vernon County Public Safety Committee meeting. Sheriff Roy Torgerson briefed the committee on the incident confirming that the weapon was a propane powered replica with a spark plug. Torgerson told the committee he believed the mayor handled the situation appropriately by quickly issuing the statement to the community.
“The mayor handled it well and got out in front of it and issued it (a statement) yesterday,” said Torgerson.
Torgerson agreed the mayor’s quick outreach helped calm some anxiety.
“I do think the mayor handled it well and met with everyone involved,” the sheriff said. “They’re going to work better, you know, if they have an event like that to communicate that ahead of time, so people are not caught off guard.”
Despite the apology from city leaders some members of the Public Safety Committee pushed back arguing the act caused public fear and questioned the response. The debate highlighted a stark difference in opinion regarding how the incident should be handled.
Sheriff Torgerson described the replica and the reaction it provoked.
“It is not a firearm,” he said. “It is a propane-powered, with a spark plug, but you can hear it. The video you see just shows shooting straight ahead, but it happened and it did stir up a lot of concern in the community. People perceived it as the real deal.”
Committee Chair Frank Easterday noted organizers had intended the display as part of the fireworks entertainment but said the public was not adequately informed.
“They knew it was going to be put on, but the people didn’t know it,” he said. “It was part of the entertainment, supposedly. It’s just a little bit scary if you don’t know what’s going on.”
Supervisor David Strudthoff (a former school administrator) pushed the discussion toward officer and public responses to perceived threats, posing a hypothetical about civilian reaction.
“If somebody comes into a school and pulls out a gun, it’s a squirt gun, but no — it looks like the real thing. Does that change the rules? If you walk into somewhere and it looks like you have an actual gun, even though the reality is a little pellet gun or a squirt gun, too bad — you were an idiot for bringing that in. How’s that really any different?”
The sheriff responded by outlining how both civilians and officers are judged on perception in split-second threat assessments.
“No law enforcement officer ever wants to be faced with that situation,” Torgerson said. “You often hear the term ‘suicide by cop,’ right? Nobody wants that. The criterion — it’s the same for us as an ordinary citizen — is: do you feel that your life was in danger? You don’t know what it is. In that moment an officer may reasonably perceive imminent danger and return with deadly force.”
Torgerson emphasized the practical consequences for responders.
“When you’re backed into a corner, that would be the argument, that in that moment the officer felt his or her life was in imminent danger, and they would return with deadly force,” he said. “We always want to look at other options, but when you’re faced with it, that’s how you would be judged.”
“Does the law change now, or if this person did, or shrink the threat?” asked Strudthoff. “The law doesn’t change just because you had a plastic gun versus a real one. You still were scaring people, so how’s that really any different than this?”
“How you perceived it.” said Torgerson
“So people were scared,” said Strudthoff. “They perceived it as the real deal. So how did they get off walking away with a smile, and the rest of us in there, you scared the shit out of people. You know what, I don’t get the dichotomy.”
“And I think the video that you see just shows, shooting straight ahead, but you know it happened,” said Torgerson. “I do think that the mayor acted on it immediately. I think that to answer your question about deadly force, it’s what you, what you perceived, what you reasonably perceived in that moment, that’s how you would be judged on that.”
“Well, they’re lucky that there wasn’t some citizen that had a concealed carry and decided he needed to take charge, start shooting at them.” said Easterday. “You know, when you don’t know what you don’t know, bad things can happen. So good thing they got through it as well as they did, and nothing bad did happen.
Torgerson reiterated he thought the mayor handled it well, and got out in front of it by issuing a statement.
Easterday returned to the public-safety implications for unannounced theatrics.
“It’s just a little bit scary if you don’t know what’s going on,” said Easterday. “There’s so much of that crap going on these days.
Torgerson and other committee members urged that future events include clearer pre-event communication with organizers and the public so emergency responders and attendees are not alarmed or placed at risk.
At the same time committee members were complimentary of the Sheriff and his staff for responding to a similar but incident involving someone threatening a construction crew with an air rifle that was perceived to be a real long gun. Torgerson described the incident that underscored how quickly perception and response can escalate. The June arrest of a 43-year-old man at a construction site east of Viroqua who brandished what turned out to be a .25-caliber high-powered air rifle.
“That individual got loud and began to fire a .25-caliber high-powered air rifle,” Torgerson said. “They (construction crew) didn’t know it was an air rifle — some of these air rifles, they’ve got some kick to them.”
Deputies arrived prepared for a serious threat.
“We actually didn’t know we were going to need a full tactical response,” said Torgerson. “We got one of our armored vehicles just headed out before they got the situation safely in control.”
Strudthoff praised the local response and sought to recognize officers’ de-escalation work.
“The other thing you need to be complimented on… is how you’re able to diffuse a very volatile situation,” Strudthoff said. “No one got hurt. You handled it professionally.”
The man was arrested and released on a $1,000 signature bond. Formal charges had not been filed by the district attorney at the time of the committee meeting.
“He was upset with the construction group for the type of work they were doing,” Torgerson said, characterizing the episode as the product of a short fuse rather than a premeditated plan.
Committee members left the meeting urging better event planning and public notification and emphasizing the narrow margin between a community scare and a deadly misunderstanding when simulations or realistic props are used without clear warning.
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