CAMERON, Wis. — One week after two young police officers were killed in the line of duty, family, friends, fellow officers and community members are laying Hunter Scheel and Emily Breidenbach to rest.
A joint visitation and funeral for Scheel and Breidenbach, who worked for the Village of Cameron and Chetek police departments, respectively, took place on Saturday at 9 a.m. at Cameron High School.
The funeral service began at 1 p.m. and will be followed by a law enforcement procession, which is set to take place between 3:15-3:45 p.m.
During Saturday's funeral, officer Hunter Scheel's sister Audrey said, “When I think about Hunter, picture him in my mind, I see his contagious smile. The smile that Hunter gave to anyone he met along the way. The smile that lit up the room along with his cackle… it was that smile that changed lives.”
Officer Emily Breidenbach's brother, Mike, also spoke at the funeral on Saturday and said, “She [Emily] loved all of you. To know her, was to love her.”
Mike also said Emily was "willing to stand in the way and fight like absolute beasts for every one of us.”
Scheel, 23, and Breidenbach, 32, were killed on Saturday, April 8 while conducting a traffic stop near Cameron.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice said the officers pulled over a driver, now identified as 50-year-old Glenn Douglas Perry, based on an arrest warrant and requested welfare check.
The Wisconsin DOJ said gunfire was exchanged during the stop, and both Breidenbach and Scheel were shot and declared dead at the scene.
Perry was taken to a local hospital, where he also died.
Breidenbach was a four-year veteran of the Chetek department, where she moved after starting her career in Stoughton.
"Her father, ya'll don't know was a retired police chief from Chetek and her goal was to follow in her father's footsteps…and she was definitely on her way," Chetek Police Chief Ron Ambrozaitis said at a vigil for the pair on Wednesday, April 13.
“It’s a very frustrating thing, two young people taken just serving,” said John Terpstra, who lives in Barron. “I feel just horrible for those families. I have a son who was a law enforcement officer and it’s one of those things we always worry about.”
Terpstra and his wife were among the thousands who attended the funeral. He thought it was important to show his support.
“They both just seemed like wonderful young people,” said Terpstra.
Tim Dechant worked in law enforcement and is still with the Bayfield County Reserve Unit. He was just one of the hundreds of law enforcement officers who came in overwhelming numbers.
“Because we could have been in the same situation these people were in,” said Dechant. “They are the first line of defense. These people put their life on the line every day.”
Scheel had just graduated from the law enforcement academy in Dec. 2022 and signed on with Cameron PD.
"We had so much planned for our future and looked forward to growing old with one another," Scheel's partner Camryn Godesk wrote on her Facebook page following his death. "Because of this, I am absolutely heartbroken and never knew I could feel such an immense pain as having my other half ripped from me. My heart hurts for him, for his family and anyone who had the pleasure of knowing him."
Donations to the Hunter Scheel Memorial Fund can be sent to the Community of Cameron Bank:
The Hunter Scheel Memorial Fund
Community Bank of Cameron
PO Box 457
101 W. Main St.
Cameron, WI 54822
Donations for a memorial fund in honor of Emily Breidenbach can be dropped off at any Sterling Bank location, or by mailing a check payable to the City of Chetek with "Emily Breidenbach Memorial Fund" in the memo line.
Emily Breidenbach Memorial Fund
Sterling Bank
PO Box 106
427 Second St.
Chetek, WI 54728
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