In the summer of 2015, a violent encounter in Monroe, Wisconsin, led to the tragic death of 40-year-old Hispanic male, Samuel Primeno Nunez. On the evening of July 22, Monroe Police were dispatched to a trailer on 17th Street where they discovered that Nunez had been fatally shot. Another man, Elias Perez-Barrios, 35, was also wounded in the attack.
The incident, which took place at Nunez's own residence, shattered the peace of the small community.
The investigation quickly identified 25-year-old Francisco Benitez-Santiago of Monroe as the sole suspect in the shooting. According to an ex-girlfriend of Benitez-Santiago, he believed Nunez and Perez-Barrios were part of a group that had recently assaulted him. Benitez-Santiago had reportedly told her he intended to "kill them before they killed him," suggesting a motive of retaliation.
Less than 30 minutes after the shooting of Nunez and Perez-Barrios, the developing tragedy took another turn. Green County sheriff's deputies located Benitez-Santiago. In the ensuing confrontation, deputies Cody Kanable and John Schuetz shot and killed Benitez-Santiago. They reported that he had ignored commands to drop a handgun and instead raised it in their direction. A subsequent investigation by the Wisconsin Division of Criminal Investigation revealed that the. 22-caliber pistol Benitez-Santiago was holding was empty, with no cartridges in the magazine or chamber.
Following the violent series of events, the Monroe Police Department confirmed that the suspect in the homicide of Samuel Primeno Nunez was the same individual who had been shot and killed by law enforcement. They assured the public that there was no further danger related to this incident. The investigation into the officer-involved shooting was handed over to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, a standard procedure in such cases.
