DeKalb County prosecutor killed in apparent domestic violence shooting

BEAVER DAM, Wis. -- She was an assistant state's attorney, Army intelligence officer and a young mother. And an alleged victim of domestic violence.

Stacia Hollinshead, 30, was fatally shot Saturday in a home in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

Rick Amato, the DeKalb County State's Attorney, posted a moving Facebook message the day after her death, calling it "the worst possible outcome of domestic violence."

"We who work in public safety talk frequently about the risks associated with domestic violence. As prosecutors, we intervene in domestic violence cases in court to prevent the nightmare outcome that we're all now living through," Amato said in a message on the DeKalb County State's Attorney's Office Facebook page.

"Domestic violence is about power and control, it is learned behavior, it is present in all communities, it crosses all social and economic barriers, and it is preventable. No faction of society is immune from it, not even those who work in the public safety arena, fiercely dedicated to stopping it," Amato said in the post.

Beaver Dam police Chief John Kreuziger told ABC News charges in the case had not yet been determined.

He said Saturday's shooting was the first homicide in the small town since 1986.

Bob Barrington, managing attorney of the Dodge County District Attorney's office, which is handling the case, said domestic violence charges are being considered and that he expected "charges will be filed Tuesday."

Barrington said Hollinshead's 5-year-old daughter was at the scene of the shooting and is now in the care of other family members.

It is unclear if Medina Espinosa had an attorney though he is being held pending charges, Barrington nor Kreuziger confirmed.

The couple divorced in 2016, according to public records. That same year Hollinshead had a protective order filed against him in DeKalb County.

An Associated Press analysis of domestic violence murders between 2006 and 2014 found that current wives and girlfriends account for nearly 75 percent of all fatal domestic violence shootings. Some states were excluded from the analysis because of how the data was collected.

On average, there were 561 such homicides per year where the victim was the shooter's wife, ex-wife, girlfriend or common-law wife, the AP data suggests.

Half of the 20 mass shootings in 2018 where four or more people were killed, excluding the shooter, were instances of domestic violence, according to an analysis by ABC News.

In a statement, Amato said Hollinshead served as an U.S. Army intelligence analyst for 11 years and was a graduate of the Northern Illinois University College of Law.

"Stacia is yet another face and heart to fight for, and a reason to believe in the work that we do daily to free the victims in our community from the power and control of their abusers," Amato said.

"I and all of Stacia's colleagues at the DeKalb County State's Attorneys Office will miss her for the rest of our lives," he wrote in the post.

Hollinshead served as an U.S. Army intelligence analyst for 11 years and was a graduate of the Northern Illinois University College of Law.