Police have no clues in killings at church Man left 7 dead, turned gun on himself

The member of the congregation never spoke during the attack.
WASHINGTON POST
BROOKFIELD, Wis. -- The sermon had begun when Terry Ratzmann entered from the back of the room and starting firing. The shots came so quickly that a churchgoer said it sounded like a hundred balloons exploding. A friend called out, "Terry, don't!"
Ratzmann said nothing and continued firing. As he changed ammunition clips, people with whom he had worshipped for years screamed and ducked for cover. Some frantically dialed 911 on their cell phones. Down to his final five bullets, he shot himself in the head, leaving bodies and questions scattered around him.
Police in this Milwaukee suburb said they do not know why Ratzmann opened fire on Saturday afternoon. He killed seven people and wounded four, but left no note and no obvious clues to his troubled mind. Witnesses told detectives that Ratzmann, a 44-year-old computer technician, was losing his job and that a recent prophesy of doom by a church elder may have upset him.
Church members said Ratzmann walked out on a taped sermon by the national leader of the church. In the message two weeks ago, Roderick C. Meredith wrote his worshippers to prepare for calamity, saying, "We are talking about Bible prophesies that will intensify within the next five to 15 years of your life!"
The evangelical church preaches pacifism, according to its Web site, and urges its members to be conscientious objectors in times of war.
Ratzmann, who lived with his adult sister and mother in a modest clapboard house in neighboring New Berlin, was unmarried and largely kept to himself, said neighbors who were trying to make sense of a crime that matched nothing they knew about him. Investigators hoped to learn more from encrypted files discovered on three home computers.
"There was nothing in his past of any significance," police Capt. Phil Horter told reporters.
The incident at the Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel, where the congregation gathered every Saturday, was the second startling suicide of the week in a narrow slice of western Milwaukee suburb. On Wednesday, Bart Ross, who admitted slaying the husband and mother of a Chicago federal judge, killed himself a few miles away in West Allis.
Dead memorialized
Outside the hotel Sunday, well-wishers had planted seven white crosses in a snow bank, one for each of Ratzmann's victims. They included Randy L. Gregory, 51, a church pastor, and his son, Gregory, 16, of Gurnee, Ill. Randy Gregory's wife Marjean, 52, was hospitalized in critical condition.
Also killed were Harold Diekmayer, 74, the father of another pastor; Richard Reeves, 58; Bart Oliver, 15; Gloria Critari, 55, and Gerald A. Miller, 44, according to police.
Matthew P. Kaulbach, 21, and Angel M. Varichak, 19, were hospitalized in satisfactory condition Sunday, a hospital spokeswoman said. A 10-year-old girl police identified as Lindsay also remained hospitalized.
Waukesha County District Attorney Paul Bucher inspected the conference room where the shooting occurred.
"It was heartbreaking, overwhelming. Unbelievable tragedy," Bucher said. "Surreal is probably what comes to mind."
Firing at random
Investigators pieced together a portrait of the shooting after interviewing 50 to 60 surviving worshippers. They said Ratzmann, a regular at the church, arrived 20 to 30 minutes after the first sermon began. The North Carolina-based church, founded after a split with the Worldwide Church of God, rented space in the hotel, ordering rows of folding chairs to accommodate members from Wisconsin and Illinois each Saturday, the day the church celebrate the Sabbath.
Ratzmann started shooting as soon as he entered the room, Police Chief Daniel Tushaus said. He seemed to fire at random, at least at first. As worshippers scrambled, one man who knew Ratzmann called out and implored him to stop. The shooting lasted perhaps a minute from start to finish, ending with the gunman slumped against a rear wall.
"He did not give any warning or provide any verbiage," said Tushaus. "We have no clear motive."