Dane Co. deputy terminated after Oct. officer-involved shooting

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - The Dane Co. deputy who fired at a suspect who allegedly attacked her with an edged weapon lost her job months ago following an investigation into the incident.

The Sheriff’s Office terminated Sara Bortz-Rodriguez on Nov. 17, less than a month after confrontation at Festge County Park, it stated in an update. The 30-year-old Bortz-Rodriguez employment status had not been revealed until Monday, nearly three months after she lost her job.

Bortz-Rodriguez’s termination followed an investigation by the Wisconsin Dept. of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation that did not end until last week. The Sheriff’s Office statement did not include the findings of the DCI investigation. It noted that the decision to fire the seven-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office came after its own administrative investigation.

DCI’s findings will now go to the Dane Co. District Attorney’s Office, which is tasked with determining if charges are in order.

At the time of the incident, the Dane Co. Sheriff’s Office stated that Bortz-Rodriguez, whose name was not revealed at the time, responded to the park after a report about a suspicious person. The Sheriff’s Office reported the man attacked her with an edged weapon before she fired at him.

Bortz-Rodriguez was taken to the hospital following the incident and was released the next day.

Neither the Sheriff’s Office nor the Cross Plains Police Department, which was also involved in the search for the suspect after the shooting, has ever released anything about locating the man. Monday’s statement did not include any information about that part of the investigation.