Jasper Emergency Services Praised for Shooting Response

The Jasper Board of Public Works and Safety held their regular meeting on Friday morning ahead of the Christmas holidays, focusing on the City’s emergency services response to the shooting on Thursday afternoon. 

Assistant Police Chief Aaron Persohn addressed the board regarding the shooting at the SureStay Hotel on Thursday. He thanked the five JPD officers who were first on the scene, including Lt. Burger, who provided a brief overview of yesterday's events. Burger said that both parties involved were part of a traveling construction group from out of town. Unfortunately, the victim did succumb to his injuries, and the suspect was taken into custody by JPD. 

Burger said that he wanted to publicly recognize every member of the department for their role in securing the scene. He said that this was a “team effort, from dispatch…, to officers’ tactical response at the scene…, locating and detaining the shooter in less than 10 minutes.” 

He thanked school resource officers for having the foresight to lock down Jasper High School and said that information sharing with the hospital was quick and effective. Praise was also given to detectives who conducted their investigation and gathered enough information for an arrest before the end of the night, and to the assisting agencies. 

Burger said, “incidents like this that show that we are a group of professionals, a well-oiled machine, and can take care of business.” He also thanked the citizens that remained on site, especially some Jasper engines employees, who were immensely helpful with the information that they provided. Mayor Vonderheide commended the department for their quick action and said that he really appreciated the officers on the scene. He noted, “It just shows that there’s no community immune to violence…good job being prepared.” 

In other business for the department, the board approved Pehrson’s request for 3 staff members to attend the Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police Mid-Winter Conference in January. 4 bids were also approved for 2-year tow contracts with the City. 

In his report, Chief Kenny Hochgesang reviewed a few outstanding code enforcement issues. Most of these involved the accumulation of waste and vehicles, several of which included mattresses and discarded appliances. He gave an update to the board on the results of the American Test Center annual inspection. All equipment passed inspection, and 12 heat stickers were applied to ladders. A couple of maintenance issues were identified on the trucks, which have been addressed, and all equipment remains in service. The chief also commended the dispatch center for their calm response to yesterday’s call for emergency services, saying that their clear and concise delivery of information was critical. 

In other business, Main Street is now open all the way to 3 rd Street. An $820,000 contract with Hafer was approved for engineering services related to phase 1 of the Regional Wellness Center. The annual Dubois Strong agreement for 2025 was also approved. The board approved a contract with Municast, which was described as providing better financial analysis and forecasting tools for the city. 

For more information on these and other updates, visit jasperindiana.gov or JasperGov-Indiana on Facebook.


 - By Drew Hasselbring