On February 6th at approximately 4:29pm, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office was called regarding a male causing a disturbance inside St.
Mary’s Catholic Church (930 Jefferson St.) in the City of Fennimore. Additional information was reported that the male was trying to get into a
locked room and demanding that he talk to a priest. At the time of the call, the on-duty Fennimore Police Officer was handling a separate
incident and wasn’t available to respond, so Grant County deputies responded to the scene. When deputies arrived on scene, they found the male in the front of the church near the alter. The male was extremely agitated and yelled profanities at deputies. Deputies attempted to gather information from the male, but the male would not identify himself and continued to yell things about Jesus Christ Almighty and the Devil. The male then grabbed numerous metal candle holders from the alter and threw them to the floor and one toward a deputy. At that point, a deputy drew their electronic control device (Taser) and advised the male he was under arrest and given numerous commands to put his hands behind his back and to get down on the ground. The male did not comply with commands and then walked up several steps to a raised area and then turned his back, put his arms out to his side and fell backward off of the raised area and struck his head on the floor. Deputies then made contact with the male and attempted to secure his hands behind his back, but the male resisted the deputies’ attempts to secure his wrists in handcuffs. Due to the continued resistance, a deputy deployed his Taser device, which allowed the deputies to secure the male’s wrists in handcuffs. After the handcuffs were applied, the male continued to resist deputies with his legs, so when other responding law enforcement officers arrived on scene, they secured his ankles in restraints. EMS was called to the scene to evaluate the subject due to the Taser deployment and a laceration to the head. The subject was transported via ambulance to Grant Regional Health Center in Lancaster for further treatment. No Deputies were injured during this incident. The male suspect in this incident was later identified as Aaron Peterson, age 38 of Fennimore. This incident will be referred to the Grant County District Attorney’s Office with the recommendation that the individual be charged with Disorderly Conduct and Resisting/Obstructing an Officer.