FIRST ALERT EXCLUSIVE: Former Oshkosh West school officer recalls “pain, confusion” during attack

OSHKOSH, Wis. (WBAY) - It was a dramatic day in court as a former Oshkosh West School Resource officer testified about the moments he was allegedly attacked by a student charged with trying to kill him.

Action 2 News was the only broadcast station in the courtroom as Mike Wissink took the stand in the Grant Fuhrman trial Thursday.

Fuhrman, 20, is charged with Attempted First Degree Intentional Homicide in the Dec. 3, 2019, attack on Wissink at Oshkosh West.

Wissink told jurors he was sitting at his desk in his office when Fuhrman walked in and closed the door. The retired officer said Fuhrman asked him to look something up on the computer.

Wissink then described being confused and in pain. He remembered Furhman coming at him and stabbing him. The weapon was a large fork.

“As I am sitting in my chair, I start to turn and get up and feeling more pain, like blows raining down on my head or head area,” Wissink stated. “Then I am able to turn and get up and I see Furhman and his hands, are doing a motion like this.”

“I notice a flash and in my mind, I picture a three-prong fork and it’s like I am standing behind myself, watching this,” Wissink said.

Wissink says he fired his gun, striking Fuhrman.

School security video shown at trial shows the moments Fuhrman tried to run out of the office, but the injured officer pulled him back in.

Wissink testified that he went for his taser first.

“I know that morning the day before, another SRO in Wisconsin was involved in a shooting incident at a school and my girlfriend talked about it and I said I hope I make it to the end without being in a shooting, I just want to make it,” Wissink said.

The state has been calling witnesses all week.

Another officer who took the stand this week testified that the scene on the day of the crime was chaotic and that the crime scene was not perfectly preserved.

An officer had asked for a pair of scissors to cut off Fuhrman’s clothing to see his wounds - after being shot by Officer Wissink during their struggle.

Scissors were taken from Wissink’s office - but when they didn’t work, the officer said he tossed them back into Wissink’s office.

The state shared some police body cam video to demonstrate in court how chaotic the crime scene was.

The defense later asked about the alleged mishandling of evidence at the scene and proper procedures.

Another officer took the stand who knew Fuhrman before the incident. He had coached him in football when he was younger. The officer was in the hospital with Fuhrman and told the jury that Fuhrman made comments about how he didn’t know what got into him and that he liked Officer Wissink.

The first witness was the teacher who ran to help after hearing gunshots inside the school. The state and the defense both agree that the teacher was a hero.

The defense then asked in cross if he thought Fuhrman wanted to hurt himself. Timothy Casper, Fuhrman’s defense lawyer, asked: “Did it occur to you that when Grant made those comments that there may be a suicide by cop situation happening that may have occurred in the room?” Sergeant Brett Robertson, from the Oshkosh Police Department, responded: “I had no idea and I wasn’t trying to draw any conclusions as to what took place.”

The same sergeant, Brett Robertson, is the one who rendered aid to Fuhrman after he was shot. The defense attorney added that Fuhrman wanted to thank him for helping him. Fuhrman actually was heard in court saying “thank you” to that officer.

On the day before, while on the stand, Oshkosh West math teacher Kenneth Levine talked about the moments leading up to the incident on December 3, 2019. He said he heard gunshots and first thought it was someone hitting a locker really hard, but after seeing the frightened reaction of one of his students he quickly realized it was much worse.

Levine ran outside the classroom, and he could hear Officer Michael Wissink yellowing for help. Levine added that he sounded like it was life or death.

Levine ran into the room and says he saw both Fuhrman and Wissink very clearly injured. Levine said Officer Wissink told him he needed a tourniquet, and Levine jumped into action.

“I thought, ‘Grant is going to die.’ I knew Mike was really bad off, but he seemed like he would be able to control the situation for a few seconds, so I ran out of the room and I tried banging on the classroom doors next to him and across the doors to see if someone would come and they didn’t -- because they were doing what they were supposed to do [a lockdown] -- so then I ran down to the nurse’s office which is probably another 25, 30 yards down the hall, tried banging on that door and yelling for a tourniquet and realized that they’re not going to come either because they’re doing what they’re supposed to do, so I ran back to Mike’s room and I used my belt as a tourniquet.”

The defense said it was not properly made aware of this questioning or asking the doctor’s opinion on those specifics, so it could not properly prepare a response.

“The State has not ever, in over 3 years, put that on notice to the defense. The State has filed previous witness lists with literally a couple sentences as to what they intended to introduce from Dr. Westphal,” defense attorney Timothy Casper said.

The State argued the questioning was fair game because the defense brought up the issues during opening statements.

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