Published in Ventura County Star (CA) - March 13, 2005

Gunman kills seven, then self, at Wisconsin hotel

BROOKFIELD, Wis. -- A man neighbors described as quiet and devout opened fire on a group of men, women and children attending a weekly church service Saturday at a Brookfield, Wis., hotel, killing eight people -- including himself -- and seriously wounding four others. "He planned to shoot us all," said Chandra Frazier, a woman attending the Living Church of God gathering.

Published in Seattle Times, The (WA) - March 14, 2005

Hotel gunman who killed 7 upset about sermon, losing job

BROOKFIELD, Wis. - In a humble brown house outside Milwaukee, 44-year-old Terry Ratzmann lived with his Venus' flytraps, his trout, which he raised in the basement and periodically ate for dinner, his computers, his mother and his demons.

Ratzmann learned recently that he might lose his job as a computer technician. Then, last month, the leader of Ratzmann's church warned in a sermon of pending financial ruin — that a "colossal financial iceberg" was going to "sink" America.

On Saturday, Ratzmann fired 22 bullets during a service here, killing seven members of his church before taking his own life. Police on Sunday stressed that the investigation was in its infancy and that they did not yet understand his motive. But church members, investigators and acquaintances said they feared the specter of financial collapse may have pushed Ratzmann — already known as an eccentric and a depressive loner — over the edge.

If that's what was behind the shootings, church leaders said, it would represent a wild overreaction to the message delivered by the evangelical leader of the Living Church of God, Roderick C. Meredith.

"I don't know of anything that would trigger this sort of response," said J.D. Crockett III, director of business operations at the church's headquarters in Charlotte, N.C. "Our sermons are played in congregations all over the world. I know of no outcry over this one."

Published in Houston Chronicle (TX) - March 14, 2005

Church shooter an `average Joe' Neighbors say man was quiet and attended services every Saturday

NEW BERLIN, WIS. - When chipmunks got into Terry Ratzmann's garden, he set up traps to catch them. But his neighbor said he kept the animals alive and let them loose somewhere else.

"He couldn't even kill a chipmunk. He was that kind of individual," said Gene Herrmann, who lived next door to Ratzmann for about 30 years.

The man police say killed seven people and then himself during a church service Saturday was described by neighbors as quiet and devout.

He liked to tinker about his house and garden, said Shane Colwell, another neighbor who knew Ratzmann for about a decade.

Ratzmann, 44, lived with his mother and sister in a modest, two-story brown home about two miles from the suburban Milwaukee hotel where police say he opened fire during a service of the Living Church of God.

Ratzmann, a computer technician, went to church every Saturday, Colwell said, and had lived in the same house his entire life. He was so devout that he skipped Colwell's wedding because it was on a Saturday, the same day as services at the church, which belonged to a denomination focused on "end-time" prophecies.

"He wasn't a dark guy. He was average Joe," Colwell said. "It's not like he ever pushed his beliefs on anyone else."

Published in News-Sentinel, The (Fort Wayne, IN) - March 15, 2005

Man seeking answers after child shot at church service

Three days after an acquaintance walked in to a church service and allegedly shot several people, including his 10-year-old daughter, a Fort Wayne man remains puzzled about why it happened." I can't say it gets easier every day," Scott Maughmer said. His daughter, Lindsay Maughmer, was shot in the hip. His former mother-in-law was killed during the Saturday shooting at a Living Church of God service in Brookfield, Wis.

Published in Duluth News-Tribune (MN) - March 15, 2005

Motive remains unclear in church-service shootings

The calls came swiftly, six of them in all. "My friend, she's lying on the floor! I think she's dead!" one woman, identified as Carol, told a 911 dispatcher. "Oh, this is awful. This is a massacre." Police on Monday released recordings of the frantic calls placed as Saturday's shooting rampage at a Living Church of God service unfolded in Brookfield, a Milwaukee suburb.

Published in The Daily Telegraph - March 17, 2005

Church victim hit four times

CHICAGO: Partial autopsy results released for seven victims of a US church service shooting rampage showed the gunman hit three people with multiple shots . including one man who was hit with four bullets.

Authorities say Terry Ratzmann, 44, fired 22 bullets within a minute at the Living Church of God's service at the Sheraton hotel in Brookfield, Milwaukee, killing seven and wounding four. He then shot himself.

The Waukesha County medical examiner's office said toxicology tests on all the victims and Ratzmann will take weeks to complete. An investigative report should be completed later this week.

Police in the Wisconsin city, are in "plodding investigative mode", compiling reports and interviewing witnesses, Assistant Police Chief Dean Collins said.

Tom Geiger, a church member and close friend of the gunman, said Ratzmann had talked about troubles with the minister. He also had a temper and "was a frustrated 44-year-old single man who couldn't get a date . . . and nothing was going right in his life".