Michael Funk (left), who was a hostage during an armed standoff Saturday at Eagle Nation Cycles and was fatally shot by Neenah police as he exited the scene, is shown in this photo with Robert Barbiaux and shop owner Steven Erato.

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An hourslong standoff at a Neenah motorcycle shop that resulted in police fatally shooting a reportedly armed hostage has exacerbated an already-fraught relationship between the shop's owner and Neenah police.

A year ago, Eagle Nation Cycles owner Steven Erato and Michael Funk — the hostage who was killed on Saturday — filed a $50 million lawsuit against the City of Neenah, Neenah police, Winnebago County, Neenah Police Chief Kevin Wilkinson and Capt. Thomas Long stemming from a 2012 raid on the motorcycle shop.

After Saturday's standoff, Erato and his attorney Cole White have been out-front releasing detailed information about the incident. Erato was in the shop basement during the hostage situation, while three people — Ryan Moderson, Mike Petersen and Funk — were held at gunpoint upstairs by a suspect identified as Brian Flatoff.

Erato facilitated interviews with hostages, gave interviews himself and invited the news media to tour the shop this week. When a reporter asked if he thought he could be compromising the investigation, Erato balked.

"No, I don't," he said. "I'm giving my opinion."

But the wide release of information about an ongoing investigation worries police.

"I will tell you I'm concerned about protecting the integrity of both investigations — the officer-involved death investigation and the criminal investigation to prosecute the perpetrator," Wilkinson said.

"The more that we talk about it in public, the harder it makes the prosecution."

Flatoff was charged Wednesday in Winnebago County Circuit Court with second-degree recklessly endangering safety, felon in possession of a firearm and three felony bail jumping charges.

Flatoff came into the shop drunk and armed with a Mac-10 handgun shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday, according to witness accounts and court documents. He apparently was upset about the sale of a motorcycle being repaired at the shop, and the man who bought the motorcycle, Vance Dalton, told reporters Flatoff had been threatening him and his family for weeks before the shooting.

About a half-hour after Flatoff took hostages, police stormed into the shop, and gunfire erupted. An officer wearing protective armor was shot in the helmet during the rescue attempt. Moderson said police then pulled out of the building, leaving him, Petersen and the gunman inside. The gunman then let them go, and Moderson said he saw Funk wounded in the alley outside.

Funk reportedly was fleeing the building when he was shot, and Neenah police say they opened fire only after he refused to drop a gun he was holding. Authorities continued to negotiate with Flatoff until he surrendered about 1 p.m.

The state Division of Criminal Investigation has been reviewing the shooting and released a statement that said its investigation, to this point, has shown that Funk was armed when fired on by police.

Three Neenah police officers are on administrative leave during the investigation, which is standard procedure.

"One officer gets shot in the helmet, they turn around and run out, abandoning the hostages," Erato said. "Then when one hostage gets out they shoot him. So yes, we're very aggravated with the Neenah Police Department and how they handled it."

When asked about the history between Neenah police and the shop, Wilkinson referenced the department's mission statement, which describes officers as "guardians standing between peace and peril to keep our community safe."

"We call it our calling," Wilkinson said. "There's nothing in there that says 'unless the person has a lawsuit against us.' Our calling is our calling."

Erato has said he called 911 to report an "active shooter" and that the police response was "horrible."

Police standoff procedures

Wilkinson and Community Liaison Officer Edgar A. Gonzalez said they couldn't speak specifically about Saturday's standoff, but they did provide information about general policies.

During an active shooter scenario, if officers hear shots, they form a team and make entry as quickly as possible, Gonzalez said.

"The key with the active shooter is that the more time that passes, the more lives are lost," he said. "With a hostage-taking situation, it typically slows things to the degree that we need to try to establish communications because there's a reason that the hostage is still there and still alive."

If officers come under gunfire, they have the option of moving to a point of cover, Gonzalez said.

When it comes to confronting an armed person, it comes down to the officer's perception of danger, he said.

"With a gun, you have a lot of range where you can hurt somebody and potentially kill someone," Gonzalez said. "When we encounter an armed person, we have very little time to make a decision. When we tell a person to drop their weapon and they don't do it, then we have to immediately raise our perception of threat."

Erato said he wants to see video that was taken during the incident.

"If they got him aiming a gun and threatening police, then he deserved to have gotten what happened, but I absolutely guarantee you that he did not do that," Erato said.

"He was a hostage, escaping, and got shot, which is very hard for us to live with," he said.

Erato has said if he had to do it over again, he would have taken his bow from the basement and fired at the gunman.

"Michael and me both made the mistake of counting on police," he said. "This only reinforces our pro-concealed-carry permit, that people need to defend themselves because if you're going to wait on the police, that's not going to happen and they may shoot you when you go out the door."