Husband of Slain Officer Arrested, Charged With First Degree Murder
The husband of slain officer Jennifer L. Sebena has been arrested and charged with her murder, authorities announced earlier Thursday. Benjamin Sebena was arrested Wednesday night and charged with first-degree intentional homicide; he is a former Marine who earned a Purple Heart.
According to the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, Jennifer Sebena was on duty Monday night when she was shot multiple times. Authorities became worried when she failed to respond to radio calls and discovered her body soon after. Jennifer had worked for the police department for two years.
Her husband, Ben, is a Marine veteran who served two tours in Iraq before suffering severe injuries in a mortar attack in 2005. His duty may have led to mental instability, given a video that he posted to YouTube in 2010.
"My experiences in Iraq were having to watch over 50 of my friends or good friends die, having to kill people, having to kill a child that tried to kill me. I was a Marine, and we're trained to kill. We're trained that death is OK," he said in the video, which has since been removed from YouTube.
Ben and Jennifer attended couples' counseling at the Elmbrook Church after he returned from Iraq, and Ben became heavily involved in the men's ministry. Pastor Scott Arbeiter told ABC News that Ben participated in the annual men's conference and "talked about his transformation from a troubled teen to a Marine Corps veteran who rediscovered his faith in God."
Unfortunately, the couple had not been active in the church for approximately one year, Arbeiter added, though the church family is still grieving.
"None of this is news anyone wants to hear," Arbeiter said. "This is tragic on so many different levels."
The entire community of Wauwatosa has been rocked by the shooting; Jennifer is the first officer killed on active duty in the department's 96-year history. Her funeral has been scheduled for this weekend.
