Trial Date Set for Former Clown Charged With Attempted Homicide of Police Officer

A trial date is set for a man who including the attempted homicide of a police officer, after shooting at police who responded to a report that he was violating a domestic abuse restraining order, according to court records.

Richard A. Petarius, 76, was in court Thursday where a plea hearing and a trial date were set. If Petarius does not come to an agreement with prosecutors in time for the July 12 plea hearing, a trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 13.

Petarius pleaded not guilty in December for the incident that happened two days after a mass shooting at a Brookfield spa. He remains jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Petarius, who was a clown with Tripoli Shrine in 2008, is accused of pointing and shooting a shotgun at officers investigating a domestic abuse incident at Petarius’ ex-wife’s Racine Avenue home Oct. 23. Police shot at him before he returned fire at the officers, according to a criminal complaint.

Officers shot 26 times at Petarius as cover fire while getting to safety with Petarius’ ex-wife. One police officer was struck by bullet debris from Petarius’ returned shot, but Petarius was uninjured, according to the complaint.
The Waukesha officers’ call for backup prompted a large response with dozens of squad cars from other southeastern Wisconsin police agencies and the FBI.

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The domestic violence incident occurred two days after Radcliffe Haughton shot and killed three women at a Brookfield spa. Haughton was ordered to not possess guns as a term of a restraining order his wife, Zina Haughton, had obtained against him. Zina Haughton, a hairstylist at the Azana Salon & Spa, was killed in the shooting.

The two officers, Amanda Bauer and Jan Corrigan, who responded to the scene and saved the elderly woman’s life received a valor award – the highest award available for Waukesha police officers – for their actions.