Deputies Tackle Armed Man at Piggly Wiggly, Had Cache of Weapons at Apartment

RACINE, WI — Racine County Sheriff's Deputies managed to tackle and restrain a heavily-armed man outside the Erie St. Piggly Wiggly after a lengthy investigation revealed he was storing a cache of weapons at his northside apartment.

Pepijn Schmidt of the 4000 block of Main St. faces multiple felony charges after he was arrested on April 18.

According to his criminal complaint, Sheriff's officials learned Schmidt was heavily armed inside his apartment, had served in military combat, was intending to ignore a court-ordered eviction and were concerned regarding statements made by Schmidt that he would harm himself or others if the eviction proceedings caused authorities to forcibly remove him from his apartment.

According to his criminal complaint, Racine County Sheriff's Deputies conducted surveillance on Schmidt and managed to intercept him at the Piggly Wiggly at 3900 Erie St. on April 18.

According to his criminal complaint, as Schmidt exited the store, he immediately saw two deputies to his left and reached for a handgun that he was carrying as a sidearm.

Two other deputies were able to converge on his right side, take him to the ground and disable his ability to use his sidearm. According to his criminal complaint, Schmidt had two handguns and two extra magazines, and two knives on him.

According to the complaint, Schmidt was arrested, deputies responded to his apartment and found 55 items including:

• 2 shotguns, one of which was loaded.
• 5 rifles, two were loaded.
• 2 loaded revolvers.
• 2 semi-automatic pistols
• Thousands of rounds of ammunition.
• Two sets of military-grade body armor.

Schmidt is being held in the Racine County Jail on a $2,500 cash bond and has been ordered to not possess or control any weapons nor body armor and must take all prescription medications.

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image via shutterstock