Body Found in Wauwatosa Home Destroyed by Fire

A body was discovered this afternoon in a burned-out home on North 119th Street that was the site of a morning fire, Wauwatosa police said.

Police say they are unable to identify the victim because of the condition of the body, but neighbors say it may have been the adult son of an elderly woman who lived at the home at 1430 N. 119th St.

While police said they couldn't identify the body, they acknowledged that the man who lived at the home is unaccounted for.

The fire was reported at 8:57 a.m. by neighbors who saw smoke and flames pouring from the second floor of the home. One neighbor reportedly raced to the home and met the homeowner, identified as Jean Lorentz, a woman in her late 70s, coming out the front door in her pajamas.

Lorentz reportedly told the neighbor her adult son, John, was still in the home. He tried to enter but was stopped by heavy smoke halfway up the stairway to the second floor.

When firefighters arrived, they entered the home but turned back after hearing what they thought was gunfire. At that point, police ordered firefighters out of the line of sight of the home and set up a tactical perimeter in the neighborhood.

During official media briefings, police and fire authorities were careful to say that they could not confirm that anyone had been in the home or that any firearms were actually known to have been present or used.

But Wauwatosa Fire Chief Rob Ugaste told Patch at 1:30 p.m. that his first unit on the scene went into the home with the intention of rescuing a person.

"Our first unit went in without a hose line," Ugaste said. "They let the second unit set up the hose line. So, they went in there to rescue someone.

"When they were near the top of the stairs, they were calling out to anyone who might be able to hear them, and they heard a gunshot. It was also heard by others outside, including police.

"Whether that was someone shooting off a gun, someone taking his own life, whether there was a gun at all, I really can't say at this point."

Ugaste said that upon hearing what they were confident was a gunshot, his first unit left the house so fast one of the firefighters dropped an expensive thermal imaging device.

Sue Henningsen, who lives two doors away, said that she was still in bed around 9 a.m. when she heard what sounded like breaking glass and got up to see what it was.

"I looked out my bedroom window and there were flames shooting up from the second floor," Henningsen said. "I called 911 and was told it had already been reported. I ran out with my kids to see, and my neighbor, Eric, was already out there.

"Eric said he had gone up to the house and met Jean (Lorentz) coming down the steps. He said she told him John was still in the house.

"He tried to go get John, but he only got halfway up the stairs before the smoke got too heavy."

The next-door neighbor declined to be interviewed.

Henningsen also said that her son, Andy, who had left the scene, had distinctly heard police officers or firefighters calling out to someone, "You've got to get out, you've got to get out!"

"Andy said he heard a voice from the house say, 'I can't get out,'" Henningsen said.

Police officials, though, said they had no information that such an exchange had taken place, and in fact said that officers had gotten no verbal reponse from anyone inside the home.

After the gunshot was heard, immediate neighbors were evacuated as police and public works employees set up a two-block perimeter around the home.

By mid-morning, Ugaste said that his fire units "were trying find creative ways to get water on the house" while still being kept at a distance.

"We have a ladder truck set up, lobbing water over another house to get to it," Ugaste said at the time.

Eventually, police allowed firefighters back near the scene and they were able to bring the blaze under control.

It was frustrating, Ugaste said, to watch the home burn without being able to close in and fight it.

"You want to do what you're trained to do," he said. "But once police took over, we had to pull back and use appropriate caution. Firefighters don't have bulletproof vests or shields. Police were covering us with their shields."

Neighbors felt Ugaste's frustration but also understood his concerns.

“We were on the corner and we were watching the flames," said Peggy, who lives across the street and declined to give her last name. "It was strange watching the flames billow up and nobody was trying to put it out.

“The we heard three pops, and I told my young son, 'There’s something combustible in that house. We better go.'

"Just then, I saw a young police officer pull out his gun."

The fire scene is now under the authority of the state fire marshal, who ordered that the basement be pumped out and the whole house soaked thoroughly and then inspected for structural integrity.

"It's no longer a firefighting situation," Ugaste said, "it's an investigative situation. Conditions are such that if there was someone inside, he could no longer be alive."