Man Kills 7, Self at Wis. Church Service

[Amelia]

Man Kills 7, Self at Wis. Church Service

By RYAN NAKASHIMA

March 12, 2005

Associated Press

BROOKFIELD, Wis. (AP) - A gunman opened fire Saturday at a church service being held at a hotel, killing seven people before taking his own life, authorities said.

Officers found four people and the gunman dead when they arrived about 1 p.m. at the Sheraton hotel. Three others died later at a hospital, said Daniel Tushaus, chief of the Brookfield Police Department.

"There is nobody else being sought at this time as a suspect," he said.

The victims were all in the same room at the hotel, Tushaus said. The suspect, a man of about 45 who was armed with a handgun, was affiliated with the church, which had been meeting at the hotel every Saturday morning for four or five years.

Tushaus did not identify the victims but gave approximate ages. Two boys ages 15 and 17, a 72-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman died at the hotel. Three men ranging in age from 44 to 58 died later at a hospital.

Four other people were hospitalized in serious condition.

Some hotel guests remained locked in their rooms after police surrounded the building and would not allow anyone to enter or leave.

Karen Suick, 48, said she arrived at the hotel Friday night with 15 players and parents for a hockey tournament.

"One of our hockey dad's two daughters are still in there," she said. "They called his cell phone. They were OK, but they were told to go back to their room. So that's what they did."

At least two church groups were holding meetings in the hotel at the time of the shootings, police said.

Brookfield is a western suburb of Milwaukee.

[Stan]

I haev been gettings messages about this, hmmm Church meetings in a hotel every Saturday.

Thinking one of the various offshoots from the WW Church of God.

Keep us posted.

[Nan]

I saw this in our local news and wondered which group - you might be right, Stan.

[Neil D]

[:"blue"] Found this on the web regarding this shooting. I will bold the church denomination... [/]

(CNN) -- A gunman opened fire at a church meeting in a Wisconsin hotel Saturday afternoon, leaving seven people dead or dying before killing himself, police said.

The gunman died from a self-inflicted wound at the scene; four other people also died at the scene, and three died at a hospital.

The shooting occurred in Brookfield, a community of 6,420 people about 15 miles west of Milwaukee.

Of those who died, the youngest victim was about 10 and the oldest around 72, Brookfield police Chief Daniel Tushaus said.

Four people remained in hospitals.

None of the victims' names were released. They were members of the Living Church of God, an international evangelical denomination based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Those injured ranged in age from their teens to their 60s, Tushaus said.

Tushaus said police responded to a call from the Sheraton Hotel at 12:51 p.m. (1:51 p.m. ET).

"We quickly determined that a multiple shooting had occurred, and the suspect involved apparently died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound," the chief said. "There are no other suspects being sought at this time.

"The suspect is the person we believe is responsible for the shooting incident."

Tushaus said the gunman's motive was unknown, and he didn't know if the shooter, who used a handgun, targeted certain people.

Nine-year-old Bridget Healy of Chicago, Illinois, said she heard the shots.

"I just heard a woman screaming 'help.' Someone call 911. Somebody's shot," said Bridget, who said she quickly went to tell her mother.

"My biggest concern was the children. I didn't want them to see anything," Janet Healy said.

She said people moved quickly, and many were visibly upset. She said she approached two men who were crying and said, "I'm sorry."

[Amelia]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />

The suspect, a man of about 45 who was armed with a handgun, was affiliated with the Living Church of God, which had been meeting at the hotel every Saturday morning for four or five years, police said.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

Living Church of God - Who Are We?

The Living Church of God is a new organization with an old history. Its leader, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, was one of the original evangelists ordained by the late Herbert W. Armstrong in December 1952. For more than half a century Dr. Meredith has powerfully proclaimed the truth of God to millions through his hundreds of articles and booklets. He has conducted personal evangelistic campaigns throughout the United States, Canada, and the British Isles. Additionally, he has broadcast over radio and television to the whole English-speaking world.

The Living Church of God is active in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. It has scores of ordained ministers and over two hundred congregations. In addition to broadcasts by Dr. Meredith and fellow evangelist Richard Ames in the English language, the Church sponsors broadcasts in French with Dibar Apartian, in Spanish with Mario Hernandez, and in the South African Afrikaans language with Syd Hull.

Church members today view themselves as the spiritual heirs of the original Jerusalem Church of New Testament time.

Statement of Fundamental Beliefs

[Amelia]

Church Gunman Said Upset Over Sermon

March 13, 2005

By JULIET WILLIAMS and RYAN NAKASHIMA

Associated Press

BROOKFIELD, Wis. (AP) - The man who fatally shot seven people during a quiet church service before turning the gun on himself was on the verge of losing his job and upset over a sermon he heard two weeks ago, investigators said Sunday.

Terry Ratzmann, 44, left no suicide note and gave no explanation for the killings during Saturday's weekly meeting at a suburban Milwaukee hotel. It was unclear what specifically upset him, but Ratzmann was a member of the Living Church of God, a denomination whose leader recently prophesied that end times are near.

Fifty to 60 people were at the service when it turned into a bloodbath. Ratzmann, a buttoned-down churchgoer known for sharing his homegrown vegetables with his neighbors, walked into the room and fired 22 rounds from a 9mm handgun. He even dropped a magazine and reloaded another.

One of Ratzmann's friends begged him to stop, calling him by name and saying, "Stop, stop, why?" police Capt. Phil Horter said. Chandra Frazier dove under a chair. The man sitting in it died.

"I just remember crawling on the carpet and just praying, screaming out and praying," Frazier told "Good Morning America" on Sunday.

After killing seven people and wounding four others, Ratzmann took his own life, leaving four rounds in his gun, police said.

The church's minister, Randy L. Gregory, 51, and his son, James Gregory, 16, of Gurnee, Ill., died, along with Harold Diekmeier, 74, of Delafield; Richard Reeves, 58, of Cudahy; Bart Oliver, 15, of Waukesha; Gloria Critari, 55, of Cudahy; and Gerald A. Miller, 44, of Erin, according to police and published reports.

Marjean Gregory, 52, of Gurnee, was hospitalized in critical condition. Matthew P. Kaulbach, 21, of Pewaukee and Angel M. Varichak, 19, of Helenville were hospitalized in satisfactory condition Sunday, a hospital spokeswoman said. A 10-year-old girl police identified as Lindsay was released from the hospital.

About 10 people attended a short vigil Sunday night outside the hotel, holding candles and praying. They gathered near a snow bank in front of a large makeshift memorial, which included more than 40 bouquets of flowers and 20 stuffed animals laid in front of seven white crosses.

Each cross had a victim's name and age. In the back, leaning against a tree with some bouquets, was an eighth cross bearing Ratzmann's name.

Becky Niedfeldt, 15, attended the vigil because she knew Oliver. "He'd take care of you even if he barely knew you," she said.

The church group was 20 or 30 minutes into Saturday's service when the shots rang out.

Ratzmann regularly attended the gatherings at the Sheraton each Saturday _ the church group did not have a building of its own. But Frazier said Ratzmann walked out of a recent sermon "sort of in a huff."

"Something that the minister said he was upset about. I'm not quite sure what exactly," she said.

During the shooting rampage, Ratzmann told the friend who approached him that he was upset, said Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher, although he was unsure over what.

He was not known to have threatened anyone and had no criminal record, police said. They seized three computers, a .22-caliber rifle and a box of bullets from the modest two-story home Ratzmann shared with his mother and adult sister.

Neighbors said Ratzmann built his own greenhouse, kept a well-tended garden and even used humane traps to free squirrels that got in the yard.

"He wasn't a dark guy. He was average Joe," said Shane Colwell, a neighbor who knew Ratzmann for about a decade. "It's not like he ever pushed his beliefs on anyone else."

But another neighbor called Ratzmann a drinker, and church members said he struggled with depression for years.

"Terry suffered from depression, on and off. When he was really depressed he didn't talk to people. Sometimes it was worse than others," said Kathleen Wollin, 66, who was sitting at the front of the room during Saturday's service.

The district attorney said Ratzmann was on the verge of losing his job as a computer technician. Ratzmann had been working for an employment agency, assigned to a health care company.

Colwell said Ratzmann was so devout about attending church that he skipped Colwell's wedding because it was on a Saturday.

The Living Church of God, based in Charlotte, N.C., places a strong emphasis on using world events to prove the end of the world is near.

Earlier this year, the group's leader, Roderick C. Meredith, wrote that events prophesied in the Bible are "beginning to occur with increasing frequency."

"We are not talking about decades in the future. We are talking about Bible prophesies that will intensify within the next five to 15 years of your life," he wrote in the church's magazine, Tomorrow's World.

The church branch that met in Brookfield was started by Randy Gregory, who moved his family from Texas to Gurnee, Ill., five years ago, said next-door neighbor Toni D'Amore, 47. Gregory and his 16-year-old son, James, were among the victims.

"Their children were probably, I'd have to say, were probably some of the nicest and most respectable young men I've ever met," she said.

She said James excelled in school. "He just had potential coming out of every pore of his body. You know, the world's lost something there."

Don Free's niece, Angel Varichak, was one of the wounded. Free said she was expected to survive.

"I wanted to know where God was when this happened," Free told the Chicago Sun-Times. "He was supposed to be everywhere. He could have at least been there."