Local and federal authorities are responding to a reported active shooting situation at a building on the 1800 block of Deming Way in Middleton, Wisconsin, a small city on the western shore of Lake Mendota and about 6 miles from Madison.
Local news reporters said that as many as 50 police cars responded to the shooting. Middleton Police are leading the investigation, while ATF agents from the Madison office are also responding. According to the local CBS affiliate, the Dane County dispatch center said shots have been fired at the offices of Esker Software and WTS Paradigm, which are located int he same building. Reports of the shooting arrived at around 10:25 am local time.
ACTIVE SHOOTER: 1800 Deming Way https://t.co/EYzSLpvLYg
— Middleton Police (@middletonpd) September 19, 2018
One woman quoted by WTOP described running for her life after hearing gunshots. The woman said one co-worker was grazed by a bullet, but was otherwise okay.
An employee at a Wisconsin business where a shooting took place says she ran for her life after hearing “really loud” shots.
Judy Lahmers is a business analyst at WTS Paradigm in the Madison suburb of Middleton. She says she didn’t know whether to run or hide when she heard shots about 10 a.m. Wednesday. She says she ran out of the building and hid behind a car.
Lahmers says she knows one co-worker was grazed by a shot but was OK. She didn’t know the extent of the shooting. Police haven’t released details but numerous ambulances are at the scene .
Lahmers says the shooting was “totally unexpected.” She said: “We’re all software people. We have a good group.”
An employee at Esker related a similar story to the press.
Gabe Geib, a customer advocate at Esker Software, said he was working at his desk when he heard a couple of shots coming from next door which “sounded like claps.” He said he then saw people running “full sprint” away from the building.
“We knew at that point that something was going down. A ton of people were running across the street right in front of us,” he said. More than an hour after the shooting, he and his colleagues were huddled in place in their cafeteria, away from windows.
Jeff Greene, who also works at Esker, said police told those gathered in the cafeteria to go a nearby hotel to make a statement about what they saw.
At least 40 people were gathered in the hotel’s parking lot, waiting to be interviewed by police.
Photos of police responding to the incident circulated on twitter.
Multiple ambulances flying down University Ave in the past 20 min, headed to Middleton. I've seen at least one with sirens heading back toward the hospital now #WKOW https://t.co/3cRggukpKf
— Jennifer Kliese (@jenniferkliese) September 19, 2018
WATCH: What we know from near the scene of a reported active shooting incident in Middleton https://t.co/foY5cBDtyn #news3 pic.twitter.com/d8QGk3PXIf
— News 3 Now / Channel 3000 (@WISCTV_News3) September 19, 2018
Scene at John Q Hammons Drive in Middleton. @nbc15_madison has multiple crews on scene working to gather more information. pic.twitter.com/yTUIOKkfKC
— Gabriella Rusk NBC15 (@GabriellaRusk) September 19, 2018
According to RT, the Greenway Station Mall in the area is also on lock down due to incident.. Schools in the area are also reportedly on lockdown.
One local reporter said that several ambulances were loaded up and driven away from the scene.
The status of the shooter is not yet known.